The truth hurts
by tam356
Summary: Lauren/joey
1. Chapter 1

Lauren stared at her reflection through the mirror, a lone tear rolled down her face as she saw her image. It wasn't the outside which was affected anymore, the bruises and cuts had vanished in the previous weeks but what really hurt was the inside. The memories were still there and she feared the flashbacks of that night would never fade. It was possibly the worst night of her life, in fact Lauren was certain it was the worst night of her life and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to get past it.

"Lauren… sweetheart?" the familiar voice shouted up the stairs.

Her eyes widened for a moment before she quickly wiped at her eyes, rushing to get the makeup to cover the redness she had caused.

"Are you okay babe?" he asked, tapping on her door.

Lauren glanced towards the door, knowing he would come in if he thought something was wrong.

"Yeah dad, I'm just getting ready for work… I'll be out in one minute" she said, pulling a face that hoped her lies had paid off.

She stayed still hearing him eventually descend the stairs. She sighed to herself as she carried on putting her makeup on. She knew her dad was very protective of her, being his only daughter and all. In fact Jack Branning was the most protective of fathers, mainly because he was a police officer too and if the slightest thing was to happen to Lauren, he would be on it like a shot, bringing in all kinds of laws to regain her safety. It was just him and Lauren now, Tanya, Laurens mother had died in childbirth leaving Jack to raise their daughter. At first he had refused any contact with Lauren, too busy mourning the loss of his fiancé. Jack and Tanya were childhood sweethearts, hooking up at fifteen. Tanya was pregnant by seventeen much to her mother's dismay, so it was tragic when she died. When Lauren was three weeks old, Jack figured he needed Lauren, she was their daughter and he needed to raise her. Now, eighteen years later, he and Lauren had the greatest relationship, although he wasn't stupid… Jack had guessed Lauren did keep certain things from him so he didn't kick off, he was very protective of her and he knew that, he couldn't help it though. Jack waited in the car for Lauren, ready to give her a lift to work. His mind drifted back to a particular night, he'd been thinking about this night for a while now and his heart clenched hoping to god that his worries were just… worries.

** FLASHBACK **

_Jack looked up from his paperwork as Lauren slowly strolled into the house, he hadn't even heard the front door go. He was horrified to see the state she was in, she had cuts and bruises everywhere. He watched her more closely as she attempted to sit down on the sofa, wincing as she did, not acknowledging any sight of her father. He was by her side in a second, holding her by the waist. _

_"Lauren? What happened babe?" he asked, carefully sitting them both down on the sofa._

_ His eyes closed tight shut as she whimpered slightly before sobbing against his chest. Jack closed his arms around his daughter and she curled up in a ball hugging him back. She clung to him for dear life. Jack didn't question her, he wanted to but he wanted to comfort her and show her he was there more… he could question her later. Lauren's sobs died down as her dad stroked her hair, giving her comforting words. _

_"__Do I have to talk about it tonight daddy?" she asked him. _

_Those couple of words broke his heart, she only used the word 'daddy' when she was really distraught about something._

_ "Not if you don't want to sweetheart" he told her__. _

_He smiled at her as she lifted her head in shock more than anything, she smiled at him before resting her head back against him again. Before he knew it, he had a very distraught, fragile girl in his arms and he carried her up to bed. He took her jumper and coat off, followed by her boots and socks. He frowned, his eyes taking in every little bit of her body. The bruises were everywhere. He decided not to overstep the mark and undress her completely to find out there were more bruises, Lauren would tell him when she was ready. He lifted the covers over her, tucking her in before kissing her forehead. "Goodnight sweetheart" he mumbled before he left her room, pale faced._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"We going then dad?" Lauren giggled, after trying to get his attention multiple times.

Jack snapped out of his day dream and smiled at her. "Are you sure it was nothing more than you said?" Jack asked her.

Lauren rolled her eyes playfully at him. "Dad…" she sighed. "I just tried to break up a fight that my friend was the victim of, stupid I know but there you go, I told you not to keep worrying" she said.

"I know, I just want you safe Lauren" he told her, looking right into her eyes to find any dishonesty.

"Well if two weeks off work hasn't helped then I don't know what will" she smirked.

"Alright, come on kiddo" he laughed, starting up the engine.

Lauren sighed in relief as her dad stopped questioning her about that night, she knew she came in a mess and practically broke down on him, she also knew it had killed him to see her like that… which is why he could never know the whole truth, that would hurt him too much. Lauren took a deep breath as she walked into the restaurant she worked, she hadn't been in for two weeks after her dad insisted she needed time at home, which her boss happily gave her. Bruno was Lauren's boss, also best friends with her dad so no secrets passed between the two. She trembled as she saw how busy the place was, taking a deep breath, she dashed to the familiar face of her boss who greeted her with the same warm and friendly smile he always did.

**So what do you think? Do you think Lauren's telling the truth about breaking up that fight? And you may have noticed I've got Jack as Lauren's dad, I prefer it this way… figured she would have a more stable upbringing. If you've read then please please leave me a review:)**


	2. Chapter 2

Lauren ran around all afternoon and evening at work, accepting every job that needed doing… or didn't need doing. She was trying to keep herself busy, to keep her mind of things, she didn't want to remember that night. Bruno watched Lauren in concern as she rushed through the restaurant in a daze, she served all the customers in the restaurant, taking their orders through to the kitchen. Then she went through to the bar and she helped serve everyone in there too. Obviously, that was Bruno's dream employee but not under the circumstances and especially not Lauren. Bruno had known Jack and Lauren for eighteen years… he had been the one to get Jack work and somewhere to live when they first moved here, so he'd pretty much been a family friend, and he knew when something was wrong with her. Lauren was just about to serve a young boy, who had been trying to get her attention all night, unbeknown to Lauren, when Bruno pulled her away.

"Lauren, is everything okay?" he asked her.

Lauren took a breath before she furrowed her eyebrows together. "Sure it is Bruno" she smiled.

"You seem on edge Lauren… your dad told me about the fight" he said.

Lauren furrowed her eyebrows together again, her mind not really on the conversation now she wasn't keeping herself busy.

"You know, the fight you broke up?" he more or less asked her this time instead of stating it.

"Oh yeah, yeah it's fine and thank you for the flowers" Lauren told him, her mind trailing off again.

Bruno turned his head slightly to see the same guy watching Lauren, he glared at him waiting for the young boy to connect eyes with him. When he finally did, Bruno noticed who the young boy was and smiled to himself, there was no harm where he was concerned. The boy always came in here to study and had pretty much been a regular for the past two years.

"Bruno?" Lauren asked again.

"Sorry, you're welcome Lauren, now just please take it easy" he told her.

"Okay" she sighed.

Bruno watched Lauren leave and then he made his way over to the boy. "Would you like another drink?" Bruno asked.

"Um, no thank you, I'm about to leave" he said, packing away all of his things.

"Ah well, I'll see you tomorrow then Joseph?" Bruno asked cheerfully.

"Joey… please" he insisted.

"Okay okay, see you soon Joey" Bruno laughed.

Joey laughed at Bruno's accent like he always did, the accent and personality was enough to cheer anybody up. Bruno was Italian and his accent was very strong. Bruno smiled as he watched Joey take another little glimpse at Lauren before leaving the restaurant. He wondered If he actually came in here for his tea and to study or whether there was just a certain young girl he liked to see.

**.JL. **

Jack spent the whole day searching camera footage of the night Lauren claimed she broke up the fight. They had clear camera footage of the fight and Lauren was telling the truth, her friend was involved in a fight and Lauren had split it up. Jack frowned at it as he watched it over and over again. Lauren had told the truth about it all but only to a certain extent. The clip showed one girl storming forward and slapping Whitney (Laurens friend) around the face, nothing else happened because Lauren dragged her away. A couple of minutes later and Lauren was seen to be walking up the main road by herself and after that they had no more cameras covering the other areas. Jack sighed to himself as he tried to work the situation out. Lauren may not have lied about the fight but she had clearly exaggerated it for an excuse to what really happened. He tried to get his mind to focus on what she looked like that night, what kind of state she was in. He remembered her crying all of the night, she clung to him, she was definitely scared of something… maybe someone attacked her he thought. He couldn't remember much else.

** .JL. **

"Hey dad" Lauren smiled, getting in the car that was parked outside the restaurant.

Jack smiled as she kissed his cheek. He had a rule now that he was to pick Lauren up every night after work until she got her own car, he may have bought her story, according to Lauren anyway but he wasn't so stupid to let her be in the situation similar to the previous one again. Jack quickly waved at Bruno before they pulled off and Lauren buckled up.

"Good shift babe?" he asked.

"Yeah it was alright, long" she laughed.

"So I was thinking…" he began before Lauren cut him off with her giggles.

"Oh come on Lauren, does that joke never get old… yeah yeah I've been thinking, I know it's dangerous" he laughed making Lauren laugh too.

He smiled as Lauren kept on laughing, it was nice to see her smile again and have the happy glow that always seemed to shadow her, it had been missing the previous weeks and Jack didn't like it.

"So what were you going to say?" Lauren asked.

"Well you know when you broke up the fight, I could look at the footage, see if I can make any arrests?" he asked, waiting to see what kind of reaction he was going to get.

Lauren physically froze in the seat next to him before she regained her posture just seconds later. "No dad, don't do that, it was just silly girls trying to win one over on each other" she told him.

"Well if you're sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, leave it dad" Lauren told him.

Jack watched as Lauren slowly laid back in her seat, taking in slow breaths and that's when he knew he wasn't going to leave it, not at all. Something had happened and he was going to find out.

**So we met Joey, briefly. What do you think Laurens hiding? Is Jack right to interfere when Lauren has told him not to? Leave a review please. i may update again tonight, depending how many reviews I get:)**


	3. Chapter 3

Bruno was setting up the restaurant with his wife Alessandro, (also known as Auntie Ali to Lauren) for the evening when the phone blared out. Bruno sighed frustrated, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I got it Ali" Bruno shouted across the room.

He rushed over to the phone getting to it just in time.

"Bruno's" he smiled down the phone.

He smiled at the familiar voice. "Hello Lauren".

Bruno frowned down the phone hearing her explanation. "Lauren, are you okay dear? I'm worried about you… me and Ali are" he said.

"Okay…well you ring me if you need anything" he told her before the call stood by the phone with one hand on his hip, a big frown in place.

"Who was it darling?" Ali asked, seeing her husband frown.

"Lauren, she's not coming in" he told her.

"Oh…" Ali frowned. "Is she okay?" she asked.

"I don't think so Ali, I have a bad feeling something bad has happened" he said.

**.JL.**

Lauren was sat in her Pyjamas on the sofa when Jack walked in from work. He threw his keys on the table and groaned to himself.

"Bad day?" Lauren asked, surprising him.

He spun around to see her sitting there surrounded by her blanket and cushions.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" he frowned.

"Yeah but I don't feel good" she sighed.

Jack studied her for a while, she did look pale but he wasn't sure if that was because she didn't feel well or for the fact that she may be lying to him, and he didn't think it was just a coincidence that she had failed to go into work the one day she would have to walk there. Jack had called Lauren this morning, letting her know she'd have to get a bus to work because he was working late… he didn't have to work late but he was still trying to find out what had happened to Lauren or if anything had happened. He also wanted to test her, he knew if she didn't go in something was wrong… maybe she was scared to make her own way there? He thought to himself.

"Oh, what's up?" he asked sitting down next to her.

"I've just got really bad stomach cramps, it's err… that time of the month" she told him.

Jack's eyes widened "Oh" he chuckled, Lauren blushing in return.

"Hey how about me and you go out for dinner?" he asked her, smiling.

Lauren turned to face him. "I thought money was tight?" she asked.

"It was but I got promoted today" he sang the last words of the sentence.

"Oh my god you got it?" Lauren asked.

"Sure did babe, you're looking at the new DCI" he chuckled, his ego shining through.

Lauren giggled and hugged him, wincing as she moved to fast. "Careful babe" Jack sighed.

"Can we go to Bruno's so I can explain properly why I didn't go in?" she asked.

"Course we can… be ready in ten" he smiled before leaving the room.

**.JL.**

"Ah!" Bruno smiled in surprise, rushing over to the father daughter duo

. "Alright Bruno?" Jack chuckled as they shook hands.

"Yes yes!" he laughed back in his quick Italian accent.

He averted his gaze to Lauren.

"And how are you dear?" he asked.

"I'm a bit better, sorry I couldn't make it" she told him, a guilty look on her face.

"No no no... No need to be sorry" he told her.

"Right table for two then" Jack smiled.

"Follow me" he said leading them over to a table.

Jack and Lauren sat down at the table smiling as Bruno gave them their menus. "Oh Lauren, you're admirers in tonight again, bit disappointed you weren't working I think" he laughed as he walked away.

Laurens eyes widened. "Bruno!" she hissed as he made his way through the restaurant.

Lauren smiled weakly at her dad. "Admirer ay?" he smirked.

"No dad, it's nothing like that… Bruno has just got it in his head that he likes me and he doesn't, he's just another customer" Lauren told him, shrugging her shoulders.

"And why do you think he doesn't like you?" Jack asked.

"He's polite dad, I serve him his food and he thanks me, the same as everyone else… he has girls all over him" Lauren told him.

Jack didn't miss the slight frown on her face before she smiled at him again. "What's he do when these girls are all over him then?" Jack chuckled.

Lauren narrowed her eyes at her dad, knowing he was trying to make fun of her. "He ignores them" she mumbled.

"Oh I guess he must have his eye on someone else then" he roared with laughter.

"Shut up" she sulked.

Jack carried on laughing at Lauren as Joey headed from the toilets, Lauren paled knowing he had to pass her table on the way back to his usual table. Lauren buried her head in the menu, her dad frowning at her. He soon realised why though when a guy stopped at their table.

"Hi Lauren" he said.

Lauren looked up to see him stood there. "Oh hi…" she pondered.

"It's Joey" he smiled at her.

"Hi Joey… this is my dad" she nodded to Jack who was smirking at her.

"Hi Mr Branning" Joey said, shaking his hand. Lauren was mesmerised how he knew her full name.

"Jack, please" he said.

"Right well I'll leave you to it" he smiled.

Lauren tried to contain her blush as Joey smiled at her, she couldn't help notice how his eyes sparkled once he was looking at her.

"You can join us if you like" Jack asked. Joey and Lauren turned around to face Jack at the same time, accept Lauren scowled at her dad.

"I'd love to Jack, but my dad's on his way to pick me up, maybe another time?" he questioned more to Lauren.

"Yeah sure, see you around" Lauren smiled. Jack waited until joey was out if sight and pulled a sarcastic face at his daughter.

"See you around?" Jack chuckled.

Lauren laughed at her dad. "What?" she asked.

"You basically just brushed him off babe" he chuckled.

"Well I will see him around…he's always here, so…" she told him.

"Yeah I wonder why that is" he chuckled.

"Not me" she told him, glaring.

"Babe seriously? Did you just miss all of that?" he asked.

"Dad… why would he want to go out with me when he has all those other girls paying him all the attention in the world… you should see them, blonde, skinny, pretty" she rambled on.

"Because you're beautiful babe… obviously he can see it" Jack told her.

Lauren rolled her eyes at him, "Yeah well you're my dad, you're supposed to say that. Jack shook his head and chuckled at her.

**So Joey made his first proper appearance, what's going to happen there?Leave a review please**.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack and Lauren got home after their dinner and Lauren had made her excuses to go straight to bed. She'd told her dad that she didn't feel well again. He frowned to himself, diving back into his paperwork, he couldn't find nothing on Lauren. He had everyone working with him trying to find even a little clue of what may have happened that night. Jack sighed as he came across the same portfolio. 'Derek Green'. He had just got of trial for attempted murder, he was found not guilty, even though everybody was pretty certain he did do it. He got off with everything. His mind trailed off to Lauren again he got increasingly worried about her. She was fine in the restaurant, it wasn't until she got in the car that she was pale again, maybe she really was just ill?

**.JL.**

In the meantime Lauren was curled up in bed silently crying, much like she did every night. Tonight was different though, she had told herself she was getting over what happened but one look from the person that caused all of this and that was it, she was back to being scared and sad again.

**FLASHBACK**

Lauren and Jack left Bruno's laughing about something Bruno had said about Joey. The reason Joey knew Lauren's first and last name was because Bruno had told him, to encourage him to go and speak to Lauren.

"Uh, left the car keys inside, be one second" Jack quickly said before dashing back inside the restaurant.

Lauren giggled and shook her head, as she made her way to the car, waiting for her dad.

"Hello again" the person said, stopping beside Lauren.

Lauren physically froze at the person in front of her and they saw too because they laughed at her posture. They winked at her before laughing again and simply walked away like it meant nothing. Laurens back was glued to the car and it wasn't until she heard her dad shouting goodbye to Bruno that she realised she'd been crying. She quickly wiped away at her tears and stood up straight. She didn't miss the change of emotion on her dad's face, it hurt her to know she was hurting him by not being honest with him. That was not what she wanted at all. She was almost certain that her dad didn't buy any of the lies she'd told him, but the only reason she had lied was to stop him going off the rails by the truth, and he most definitely would. She knew the truth would hurt him too, and she didn't want that. Once they were in the car, things were tenser, Lauren felt like she could burst into tears any moment and she really didn't want to have to explain her sudden outburst to her dad. She could tell her dad was upset but more than anything he was upset she couldn't speak to him, they both knew that.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Lauren laid in bed thinking how she could fix this, I mean there must be a way she could fix this right? A lot of people had done this before and got past it… there must be a way to fix it… or she could just ignore the person, yeah she could do that, most probably would do that.

**.JL.**

Jack decided he'd had enough of the paperwork, he had a million and one things spinning around in his head, things that he thought may have happened to his little girl and that brought tears to his own eyes. He left his paperwork sprawled all over the table and made his way upstairs. He stopped outside Laurens room, hesitating for a moment wondering whether he should go inside to check on her or not. He sighed, rubbing his hand over his face, this was becoming more stressful by the minute. His hand hovered over the handle before he sighed again and he decided to walk away. That was until he heard Lauren let out a whimper followed by sobs, and he just couldn't ignore that. He was through the door and crouching down beside her in a matter of seconds.

"Daddy" she cried, pulling on his heartstrings.

"Babe" Jack sighed moving to sit on the bed, Lauren moving to curl into him.

Jack put his arm around her, trying to comfort her with his words.

"Please talk to me Lauren" Jack begged her.

"It's just the stomach cramps dad, I can't sleep" she told him.

Jack sighed. "Please Lauren" He begged again.

Lauren was silent, just her cries to be heard.

"Something bad happened didn't it? You didn't break up a fight Lauren, I'm not stupid" he said.

Lauren burst into tears at her dad's revelation, she knew all along that he didn't believe her but hearing him tell her was something different.

"Please just talk to me Lauren, I can help" he said, holding her tighter now.

"I'm sorry dad, I want to tell you but I don't want to hurt you" she sobbed.

Jack let his head fall down. "Don't be sorry sweetheart, it's okay… Just promise me you will talk to me when you're ready?" he asked.

"I promise" she mumbled.

Jack kissed the top of Laurens head and she yawned.

"Get some sleep" he told her. She nodded and got back under the covers, smiling weakly at him as she did.

"Will you stay with me until I fall to sleep?" She asked.

Jack smiled, "Course I will" he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

**Do you think Lauren will ever talk to Jack?! Poor Lauren. Poor Jack. I'll update again tonight if I get enough reviews, and sorry I haven't replied to reviews yet, I'll be doing them this afternoon. Any of you have any clues to what happened yet?**


	5. Chapter 5

Jack finally made his way to his room after along and stressful night with Lauren. It was 3:22 and he was only just going to bed, he first went into her room at midnight, so it had been quite a rough night but it was nice to know she was opening up to him a little more.

**FLASHBACK**

Lauren had been in and out of sleep for the past two hours and Jack got even more worried when he was sure he heard her let a little cry out. He moved his hand to stroke her hair trying to calm her in her sleep.

"NO!" she shouted, lunging forward into a sitting position.

"Hey, it's okay" Jack said moving over to her.

"Dad I'm so sorry" Lauren sobbed into his chest.

"It's okay Lauren" Jack sighed, moving Lauren to sit with him on her bed.

"No it's not, It's never going to be okay again" she cried, still.

"Tell me" he whispered.

Lauren knew exactly what he meant and she wanted to tell him, she really did but she was just scared.

"You'll hate me dad" she cried.

Jack closed his arms tighter around Lauren and rested his chin on top of her head.

"No Lauren I could never, ever hate you" he told her.

Lauren shifted so she was looking at her dad.

"Promise?" she asked him.

"I promise" he told her.

"I need time dad, I will tell you, and I promise I will but I just need time to get my own head around it before I tell you" she told him, causing Jack to sigh.

"Are you mad?" Lauren asked.

"No babe, I'm just worried that's all, but I'm glad you're going to tell me" he smiled at her.

"Thank you" she whispered, before kissing his cheek.

Jack smiled into thin air and when he looked down at her again she was fast asleep.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Lauren woke up the next day feeling just as bad as she did before she went to bed the previous night. She'd promised she would tell her dad what really happened, but how could she do that? How could she make him feel like he wasn't there for her when she needed him the most? It wasn't going to end well, she knew that much.

Lauren had spent the whole day worrying over the whole thing and before she knew it she was getting ready for work again. She really didn't want to go in today either but she could hardly call in sick two days in a row, as much as she wanted to.

"Lauren! You ready?" her dad called up the stairs.

Lauren sighed before appearing at the top of the stairs with a smile on her face.

"Yep" she said popping the 'p'.

"Come on then" he chuckled, Lauren laughing too as they headed to the car.

**.JL.**

Lauren walked into Bruno's feeling sicker as she did.

"Lauren, my dear! What brings you here?" Bruno asked.

"Erm I work here" Lauren giggled.

Bruno frowned at her and Lauren frowned too.

"Wait, are you firing me?" she asked.

"Oh no dear of course not, it's your day off today" he smiled.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Yes dear" Bruno chuckled.

"Why don't you stay for a drink and I'll drive you home" Bruno told her.

"Okay" she smiled politely, making her way over to the bar as Bruno made his way behind it.

Lauren ignored everyone around her, not really wanting to see anyone she didn't want to. "One orange juice" Bruno smiled.

Lauren smiled back at him, ignoring the person who sat on the barstool next to her.

"Is everything okay Lauren?" Bruno asked, Lauren knew he was digging for information because he didn't believe her about breaking up the fight either.

"Yeah" she smiled, avoiding his gaze.

"I've had your dad on the phone again this morning, asking me to keep an eye on you, he's really worried about you" Bruno told her.

"I'm fine honestly" she told him, as more people entered the restaurant. Bruno sighed "I'll be as quick as I can" he said.

"I can walk home Bruno, I'm eighteen" she laughed.

"No, not by yourself, it's getting dark" he frowned.

"Bru…" She began, getting interrupted.

"I can walk you home" Someone beside her announced.

Lauren and Bruno both looked beside Lauren seeing Joey sat there.

"Oh hi Joey" Lauren smiled.

Bruno smiled at how Laurens face lit up when she spoke to Joey, and by the looks of things Joey was surprised and happy she was talking to him too, his face lit up in a similar way.

"Hi" he smiled back, Lauren still smiling at him. Bruno clapped his hands together twice

"That's sorted then" he laughed.

"Oh no, you don't have to walk me home Joey" Lauren laughed nervously.

"I want to… plus you don't want to be walking the streets in the dark on your own do you?" he asked her.

"I guess not" she smiled.

Bruno watched as they both kept stealing glances as they got their coats on and he smiled at them once more.

"See you tomorrow?" Lauren asked Bruno.

"No Lauren" he chuckled, causing her to frown. "You're off tomorrow too, back Saturday" he told her.

"Oh, see you Saturday then" she laughed.

"Bye" Joey said, receiving a wave off Bruno and giggles from a bunch of college girls studying. Lauren watched as Joey rolled his eyes and held the door open for her.

**.JL.**

"So… do you always come into work on your day off?" Joey smiled.

"Not always" she smirked.

Joey chuckled at her and watched as she shivered. "Are you cold?" Joey asked.

"Yeah a bit" she laughed.

Lauren watched as he took off his hoody leaving him in just his joggers and t-shirt.

"Here put this on" he said handing her his hoody.

"Oh no, you don't have to give me that" Lauren told him.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to" he told her smiling, still holding out the jacket for her.

"But won't you get cold?" she asked him.

"Nope" he said.

Lauren thought about it for a moment "Are you sure?" she asked him, causing Joey to laugh.

"Lauren, please" he chuckled.

He moved forward and placed the hoody over her head, surprising her. Lauren put her arms through it and he pulled it down her body, his knuckles grazing the sides of her, causing her to inhale deeply.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah" she blushed, hoping the dark was covering it up.

Joey smirked at her and she guessed the dark hadn't covered it up. Lauren smiled into Joey's hoody as he linked his arm through hers, she also smiled that she could smell him all over the hoody. They fell into a silence for around ten minutes and Lauren was too nervous to say anything.

"How much further is it to your house?" he asked.

"Five minutes… I can walk by myself from here if you want to get off?" Lauren asked him.

"No it's not that, I was just wondering" he said.

"So is everything alright, I heard Bruno saying your dad was worried about you?" Joey asked.

Lauren looked at him in surprise, not realising he had overheard.

"Sorry, it's none of my business" Joey said.

"It's alright, my dad's just worrying too much, I split a fight up and got a load of bruises and cuts, so he doesn't believe me, he thinks I got involved in something much worse" she sighed.

"Oh… did you?" he asked, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck.

"No…" she sighed.

"Your face says different" he said.

"I can't possibly tell my dad what really happened, I can't tell anyone" she sighed looking down.

She frowned at how easy she found it to talk to Joey but she couldn't talk to her dad.

"You can tell me to shut up if you like… was it something really bad?" he asked.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders still looking at the floor.

"It might not be… but I think it was, it stops me sleeping at night so…" she said.

"Bad then…" Joey sighed. "How come you haven't told your dad?" he asked.

"I want to but I don't want to hurt him" she told him.

They stopped outside Laurens house and Joey studied her for a moment.

"If you like you could tell me, and whenever you need to, you can talk to me" Joey said.

"I don't want you to think I'm weird" she told him nervously.

"I'd never think that, I like you" he smiled at her.

Lauren looked up at him and smiled back. He saw she was reluctant to answer his question and decided on something else.

"It's up to you Lauren, you don't have to tell me… How about me and you go out somewhere tomorrow, seen as you have a day off?" he asked her.

"Okay" she smiled.

"And you don't have to tell me anything yeah?" he asked, just making sure she didn't feel pressured.

She nodded at him and smiled.

"So I can pick you up tomorrow at seven?" he asked.

"Yeah" she smiled.

"Okay bye then" Joey smiled.

"Oh wait! You're hoody!" Lauren almost shouted.

"You can keep that, for tonight" he told her winking.

Lauren blushed as he moved forward to her engulfing her in a hug.

"I'm sure everything will work out okay Lauren" he told her.

Lauren put her arms around his neck and smiled. "Thank you" she whispered.

Joey let go and Lauren immediately missed him.

"See you tomorrow" he smiled, walking away.

"Bye" she smiled.

Jack opened the door laughing and Lauren knew he'd been watching them all along.

"Shut up" she mumbled as he carried on laughing.

"Thought he wouldn't be interested in you?" Jack said.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders "Maybe I was wrong, we'll see wont we" she smirked back.

"Have you got a date miss Branning?" Jack asked.

"Yep, tomorrow night at seven" she smiled.

**So Lauren got a date with Joey! How do you think that will go? Do you think she might tell him what really happened that night? Maybe. Leave me a review please.**


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren hadn't slept that night either, if it wasn't the happenings of that memorable night, it was worrying about her date with Joey. She didn't even know if it was a date, it wasn't like Joey had said it was. She rolled over in bed once more, sighing in frustration when she did. She clearly wasn't getting much sleep tonight.

**.JL.**

"Morning lazy" Jack chuckled as Lauren walked into the kitchen around midday.

"I didn't get to sleep until about six" she sighed.

Jack frowned at her and placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"You alright darling?" he asked, sitting down at the table with her.

She let out a huff of breath. "What if Joey doesn't like me?" she asked.

"He likes you" Jack chuckled.

"Okay what if once he gets to know me he changes his mind?" she sighed.

"Babe… course he won't" Jack told her.

"Hm" she mumbled, sipping her coffee.

"Take that" he said, throwing his credit card onto the table. Lauren looked at the credit card and then at her dad.

"Why?" she asked.

Jack rolled his eyes before laughing. "Don't you want something nice to wear to gout with Joey?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks dad" She smiled.

"Where you going?" Jack asked as Lauren downed the rest of her coffee and got up from the table.

"Shopping with Whitney" she smiled. Jack chuckled as Lauren ran off upstairs.

**.JL.**

After a long day of shopping, Lauren and Whitney made their way back home, happy with their purchases. Whitney had done a good job of questioning Laurens motives. Lauren had to tell her she had a date in the end. Lauren had got pretty upset after Whitney kept on questioning her about that particular night, jack had contacted her asking her about the fight and things didn't add up in Whitney's head, Lauren had brushed it off and finally decided to tell her she got mugged on her way home, Lauren was finding it hard to lie to people, she was beginning to forget what she'd said to who.

**.JL.**

There was a knock on the door and Jack went to answer it.

"Oh alright Joey?" Jack smiled.

"Hi, Jack, Lauren ready?" he asked.

Jack chuckled, confusing Joey. "She's a girl Joey, course she's not ready" he laughed, Joey catching on.

"Lauren!" Jack shouted up the stairs.

"What?!" she shouted back, causing both men to laugh.

"Joey's here" he shouted. There was a silence for a second or two, jack smirking to himself.

"I'll be five minutes" she shouted.

"Do you want a drink?" Jack asked Joey.

"Er please" Joey said.

"So… what do you do then?" Jack quizzed joey.

"I'm at college, well I work from home" Joey said.

"Yeah? What do you want to do?" Jack asked, curiously.

"Police officer" Joey mumbled, hoping that would be okay.

Jack's eyes widened. "You want to be a police officer?" Jack asked him.

"Erm yeah… my dad doesn't like it though, he wants me to go into business with him" Joey sighed.

"What does your dad do?" Jack asked.

"He sells cars, he works away a lot of the time so he's barely at home, that's okay I guess if that's what your into but I'm not" he said.

Jack smiled. "You do what you want to do Joey… I'm a police officer too" he smiled.

Joey looked up in shock. "You are?"

"Yep" he chuckled as they heard Lauren come down the stairs.

"Fuck" she snapped.

"Oi!" Jack shouted her way causing Joey to laugh.

"Sorry" she said, trying to bite back the laugh.

"Yeah you sound it" Jack said as she came into the kitchen.

"Woo, look at you" he laughed.

"Dad!" she hissed trying to hide her blush.

Joey smiled at her cheekily as he looked at her all over. "Thanks for the drink" Joey said.

Lauren and Joey left the house and Lauren released her breath once the door had shut.

"You look great" Joey said.

Lauren blushed again and smiled at him. "Thank you, so do you" she said looking over his body.

Joey chuckled and they began to walk.

Once again Joey linked his arm through Laurens as they walked through the streets. "I thought we could go for dinner?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, where do you want to go?" Lauren asked him.

"Anywhere" he told her. "Bruno's?" he asked with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah" she giggled.

Joey opened the door to Bruno's and let Lauren walk in first. He placed his hand on her lower back and they walked to the bar. Bruno saw the interaction between them and gasped, throwing his hands up in the air and rushed over to them.

"Hello, Lauren, Joey… Are you two on a date?" he asked excited.

Lauren looked to Joey smiling and he laughed. "Yeah we are" Joey said.

Lauren was in the middle of doing a happy dance when she was cut off by Bruno hugging them both. They both laughed as he led them over to a table, pulling both their chairs out. Lauren watched as Joey took his jacket off, she stared at his arms. He had a long white sleeved shirt on that showed everything of perfectly. Joey didn't miss her ogling either. Lauren took her jacket off and she had a long sleeved midi dress that showed her figure off perfectly too.

"You are stunning Lauren" Joey told her when he finished looking at her.

"Thanks" she giggled. Joey smiled at her shyness before a waiter came over to take their order.

**.JL.**

They eventually ate and were ready to leave the restaurant. They said goodbye to Bruno and left.

"Do you want to go to a bar or something?" Joey asked Lauren.

Lauren nodded, she wasn't exactly in a rush to end tonight.

"Come on, I know somewhere" Joey said, taking her hand this time.

Lauren was smiling widely this time as his hand closed around hers, it was a good job he was looking away.

Joey stopped them outside a bar just five minutes up the road from her house. Lauren sat down at a table and Joey went and got the drinks.

"Vodka and coke for you" he smiled handed it over to her.

"Thank you" they both smiled as their fingers caught.

The talk flowed easy between them and they spent the whole night just talking and drinking, until Laurens phone started ringing.

"Crap look at the time, it's my dad" Lauren said.

Joey pulled a guilty looking face causing her to laugh as she answered the phone.

"Hi dad, yeah I know…" she said glancing at Joey who was looking at her. "Sorry, I meant to ring you… I lost track of time" she said. "Yeah I'm coming now" she said putting the phone down.

"Dads been called out to work and I've got to go, I left my keys at home so I'll be locked out if I don't go now" she said.

Joey grabbed his jacket and stood up. "I'll walk you" he said. Lauren got her jacket on too and they rushed out of the bar and up the road.

Jack was waiting by the door when they rushed up the road. "Sorry darling but there's been a hit and run, I've got to go in" he said, kissing her cheek.

"It's alright, see you in the morning" she said.

"You can go in if you want Joey" Jack smirked before speeding off in the car.

Lauren smiled as Joey motioned for Lauren to walk in the house first. She turned around making sure he was following, his head snapped up and he smiled at her. She silently laughed to herself, Joeys eyes had been glued to her bottom.

**Good date night? Wonder what's going to happen inside? Leave a review please. Big reveal in tomorrow's chapter... Do any of you have a clue as to what's gone off?**


	7. Chapter 7

Lauren and Joey walked into the living room and they both sat on the sofa.

"Do you want a drink?" Lauren asked joey, needing a distraction from her nerves.

"Yeah what we having?" He smiled.

"Come on, let's see what dads got" she smiled walking over to the drinks cabinet.

She got several bottles out of the cabinet and lay them out on the table.

"Everything then" joey chuckled.

"Yeah dad likes to wind down after work" she giggled, probably from the vodka she'd already had at the bar.

"What do you like?" Lauren asked.

"You..." He mumbled, glancing up at her face and making Lauren burst into a fit of giggles.

"Joey!" She laughed.

"Let's have the vodka" he smirked.

"Okay I'll go get some glasses" she laughed.

Once in the kitchen, Lauren had to steady her breathing, she was becoming all hot and bothered and nothing had even happened. She grabbed two glasses and made her way back to Joey. He was stood in the same place, she poured the vodka into the glasses, adding some coke too, trying to stop her hands from shaking as she knew joeys gaze was set directly on her.

"There you go" she smiled.

Joey purposely held her fingers when she gave him his glass. She smiled at him and then he watched her cheeks go pink. They moved over to the sofa and joey sat quite close to Lauren.

"I like you too" she said.

Joey looked up at her in surprise. She'd had to drink her drink pretty quickly to get the courage to say that.

"I'm glad we have a mutual feeling" he chuckled making Lauren laugh too.

Lauren blushed again and he leant closer to her. Lauren wasn't sure she should do this at first after everything she had been through, she felt reluctant, but it was different with joey, she wanted this. His lips pressed onto hers and she let out a strangled whimpering sob.

"I'm sorry, I can't... I... I think you should leave" she said, getting up off the sofa.

Joey frowned before he realised Lauren had ran off. He wasn't sure what to do, he wondered if it was anything he'd done. He got to the top of the stairs and there were three rooms, two of the doors were wide open and one was closed, so he figured that one would be Lauren's room. He knocked on the door and waited for a reply, he didn't get one but he did hear her crying.

"Lauren" he sighed. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked from the other side of the door.

"No it's not you, it's me... It's always going to be me, just go home joey" she said through a broken voice.

Joey decided against all and walked into the room. He crouched down beside her bed and sighed, she was curled up into a ball, her face buried into her pillows, the sight of her looked so broken and now even he worried about 'the bad thing'

"I can't do that, I'm not going to leave you here like this, I'd be a bit of a dick if I left you all alone while you're so upset" he said, resting his hand on her arm.

However, this only made her cry harder.

"Is this to do with the bad thing that happened or is it something I've done?" Joey asked her. "It's not you, why are you always so nice to me?" she sighed, sitting up.

Joey sat next to her on the bed too. "Because i think you're wonderful, now do you want to tell me?" He asked her.

"You'll think I'm disgusting" she said.

"Lauren I would never think that about you" he frowned. "Please tell me, I'll be there for you, I promise" he told her.

"Okay" she mumbled.

There was a silence for a couple of minutes and joey figured she needed to get things straight in her head. Lauren thought about what she would say, she just spat it out, the quicker it was done, the quicker he could leave.

"I was attacked by a guy... Raped" She told him, looking down at her hands in her lap.

Joey didn't say anything, just sat there kind of shocked at her revelation.

"Don't feel like you have to stay now you know" she sighed.

Joey could see the tear drops falling onto her legs and he mentally kicked himself for not saying anything yet. Lauren cried as he put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her body into his.

"I'm not going anywhere" he told her kissing the top of her head.

Several minutes later, Lauren stopped crying and joey entwined their fingers together.

"Do you think any different of me now that you know?" She asked.

"Only that you're braver than I ever thought" he said.

Lauren buried herself into him some more and yawned against his chest.

"Sleep, I'll still be here in the morning" he said.

Joey moved up the bed and motioned for Lauren to move with him. He rested his head back against the headboard and Lauren lay against him, on her side in between his legs.

"How do you think my dad will react? Do you think he will want anything to do with me?" she asked him.

"You should tell him, you two are so close, I think it will go better than you think" he said.

Lauren nodded against his chest and before joey knew it, she was fast asleep.

Joey saw that his hoody was on the floor next to Lauren's bed and he smiled. He picked it up and put it on her as carefully as he could without waking her, he then awkwardly reached for the throw at the bottom of her bed and placed that over Lauren too, before he drifted off himself.

**.JL.**

Jack walked in the house at 5am the next morning after a successful night at work. The only thing he had on his mind was his bed but not before he checked in on Lauren. Her bedroom door was open which he found strange because she always shut it. He popped his head around the door and his eyes widened at the sight. He would normally be furious to see his daughter laid in bed with a boy but he knew joey and he liked him, plus they were both fully dressed, although he would still be having words with her in the morning. He took a closer step and could see she'd been crying which he also found strange, but it must've ended on a good note because they were both here, together. Jack thought to himself that maybe Lauren had confided in joey... He hoped she had anyway. Leaving him with that thought, he crept out of her room and closed the door behind him, heading for his own room.

**So Lauren was raped and that's why she's so reluctant to be around joey... It's not over yet though... She still needs to tell her dad... And obviously there will be more complications and drama for her. Leave a review please.**


	8. Chapter 8

Jack didn't get anymore sleep that morning, it was bad enough he'd only been back in the house five hours but Lauren was finally going to confide in him. The more he thought about it, the more worried he got. He'd thought of everything that could've happened to Lauren and he didn't like any of the examples his head came up with. He thought back to Lauren and joeys conversation that he had 'overheard' and he wondered why she thought he would hate her. Jack frowned as he thought about it. How could he ever hate his own daughter? Not in a million years. He heard the shower go off and he sighed to himself. He waited until he heard Lauren's bedroom door shut and he made his way down stairs to make a strong cup of coffee. Ten minutes later, Lauren also came downstairs, walking into the kitchen like she was on cloud nine. Jack chuckled at her, realising joey had clearly put a spring on her step.

"Oh ay, someone's cheerful this morning" he smirked.

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked.

Jack chuckled again, placing his empty mug in the sink. "Well, you slept a whole night with no screaming or sudden wake up calls and you're a happy little one this morning" he smiled.

Lauren pursed her lips together and poured herself and jack some more coffee. "Nothing to do with joey stopping over then?" Jack asked her.

Lauren's mouth dropped open a little as she stuttered. "Dad I'm sorry, I was upset and joey insisted" she said.

"It's okay I checked in you last night and saw you both in there and I have to admit Lauren I wasn't very happy about it but... Joey is a nice boy and I like him" jack told her.

"Good" she smiled. "Because I like him too" she added after a couple of seconds.

"I can see that" he laughed. Lauren blushed at her dads words.

"I told him" she said, breaking the silence.

"Told him what babe?" Jack asked, even though he knew full well what she meant.

"I told joey what really happened that night and I want to tell you too" she said.

"How did joey take it?" Jack asked, curiously.

"He didn't say anything at first but he was there for me and he told me it wasn't my fault" she said, looking down at the floor.

"Shall we go in the living room?" Jack asked.

Lauren nodded even though her dad had already started walking in. She sat down on the sofa beside him and watched his face for a while wondering what he was thinking.

"I tell you if you promise me something?" She asked.

"Okay"

"You won't hate me after you know, you won't think I'm disgusting and you won't dig for more" she said.

"Lauren" he sighed, hurt that she could think that.

"Please dad" she also sighed.

"I promise" he told her, knowing he'd live to regret the choice.

"There was a fight that night but I may have exaggerated it... Just a little" she told him, guilt written all over her expression.

"Not like you then" he chuckled, hoping to keep it light.

Lauren smiled and carried on. "Whitney's dad picked her up and I know I should've accepted the lift when he offered but I felt like fresh air" Lauren told him. "I walked over the fields" she said, looking up at her dad shyly.

"Lauren, I told you not to go that way, it's dangerous" jack almost scolded her.

"Well I know that now" she mumbled. "Anyway there was this guy and I think he was drug dealing, he saw me looking so I looked away quickly but before I knew it he was stood in front of me" Lauren said.

"What did he look like?" Jack asked.

Lauren rolled her eyes, knowing honesty was the best thing here and she knew her dad would ask her this. "Skinny blonde hair about my age, he had blue eyes and he was nasty looking" she told him.

"Look you don't need to know the details but.. He erm" Lauren sobbed the last words.

Jack pulled her into a hug, already scared of what she was going to say.

"He hit me and then he raped me" she said, crying harder into his chest. Her face was buried into his chest because she couldn't bare the look on his face when it sunk in. Jack didn't say anything, too busy trying not to choke on the sobs threatening to make themselves known. Jack didn't cry that much but this was one of those times he was willing to let his tears fall.

"Daddy?" Lauren asked looking up, frightened of what would happen next.

Jack looked down at his daughter and she looked like a scared little girl, she resembled a small child. He smiled at her sympathetically, that was all he could give her at the moment. They fell into a silence and only the odd cry from Lauren could be heard.

"Do you think I'm disgusting?" Lauren asked several minutes later.

Jack wiped at his eyes, hating himself for not saying anything to comfort her sooner.

"No Lauren" he sighed. "I'm sorry" he also told her.

Lauren looked up at him with a questionable look.

"I wasn't there for you was I? I'm your dad and I'm supposed to be there no matter" he told her, mentally punishing himself.

"There was nothing you could've done dad, please don't blame yourself" she begged.

Jack didn't say nothing but kissed the top of her head.

The rest of the day was spent with the pair watching movies on the sofa. Lauren didn't want to move and jack didn't want to leave her, plus it had been ages since they had done anything like this. Jack had also called Bruno and with Lauren's consent, he told him everything. He understood completely when jack has told him Lauren wouldn't be working there no more because neither of them wanted her to leave the house for a while. Even Bruno got emotional on the phone, he was a very old heartfelt man and he had knew Lauren since she was just a month old, so it didn't come nice to him when he found out the extent to her injuries.

Lauren had been in a daze as the evening drew in, she wasn't paying attention to anything on the tv of anything jack said to her. She didn't even bat an eyelid when her phone blared out or even when someone knocked at the door. Jack became worried about her and was certain he's done the right thing by inviting joey over.

**.JL.**

Lauren woke up and she could see it was dark outside now, she was still on the sofa and she groaned as she lifted her head up, having been slept on it funny. She could feel her dad at the end of the sofa where she was trying to stretch her legs.

"Ugh, move" she moaned, her eyes still shut.

He chuckled at her. "Well that's not very nice"

Lauren's eyes shot open and her face broke out into a shy smile. "Joey" she sat herself up, a bit too quickly causing her to groan again.

"Steady" he smirked.

She smiled at him shyly "what are you doing here?" She asked him, now in a sitting position.

Joey moved so he was sat beside her. He smiled at her seeing she was wrapped up in a fluffy blanket and he could just see she was wearing his hoody underneath it.

"Your dad asked me if I wanted to come round" he said.

Lauren glances to the doorway seeing her dad stood there smiling, watching over the couple. She smiled back at him and turned her attention back to joey.

"Is that okay?" Joey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah" she said, her voice a little more high pitched than she intended. "Course it is" she smiled, joey smiling too.

Lauren took in a deep breath feeling awkward. She glanced to her dad who was still in the doorway and pursed her lips together.

Jack chuckled. "Okay I get it" he laughed, causing the other two to laugh as well.

"Will you be alright if I go into work tonight?" Jack asked.

"Course I will dad" Lauren said rolling her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me miss" jack smirked.

Joey laughed at the pair, putting his arm around Lauren's shoulders. Jack smiled as he watched his daughter rest her head on joeys shoulder as they fell back against the sofa.

"Don't worry, I'll look after her" joey told jack.

Jack grabbed his jacket and put it on, smiling at the pair once more.

"Yeah I'm holding you to that" he said seriously before leaving the house.

"Ignore him" Lauren laughed nervously.

"I mean it... I'm going to look after you" joey told her.

Lauren turned her head on his shoulder so she could see his face. She loved the honesty that shined through him when he spoke to her. "You don't have to" she told him, hating to be thought of as a burden.

"No" he said moving his position so he was sat upright facing Lauren and her head was resting on the back of the sofa. He moved the hair away from her face and tucked it behind ear. "But I want too, babe" he told her.

Lauren was in shock as he pressed his lips onto hers, she so badly didn't want to mess this up so it took her a couple of seconds to respond. That was the first time he had called her babe, and she liked it. She moved her lips in sync with joeys, feeling him smile in to it. Lauren moved her hand to lay around the back off joeys neck, bringing him a little closer. His tongue licked Lauren's lip and soon enough their tongues were battling for dominance. Joey groaned as Lauren swirled her tongue around his, adding extra pressure. She smiled feeling pleased with herself, before she pulled joey down on top of her, as she lay flat on her back.

Joey broke the kiss and looked at her questionably "are you sure this is alright with you? I don't want to push you, you don't have to prove anything to me" joey told her, trying to reassure her he could wait.

Lauren eagerly nodded her head. "I feel different with you joey, I feel safe, I want to do this with you" she told him. Joey smiled.

"Anytime you wanna stop, just say so" he told her.

Lauren answered him with another kiss, this time them both getting lost in it.

**So a normal relationship for these two... They aren't cousins, so what could possibly go wrong? im going to be updating again tonight if I get enough reviews, so go and review please:)**


	9. Chapter 9

Jack got home in the early hours of the next morning. He groaned to himself as he leant back against the door, it was hard for him to not interfere with what happened to Lauren, he wanted that man in a cell were he could get to him and show him what happens to people who hurts his little girl. On the other hand he had been so busy working on Derek Green's case. They had more evidence that he was dealing drugs and arranging for his customers who didn't pay to be attacked, not quite enough evidence for an arrest though and even if they did have enough, Derek was nowhere to be seen, they couldn't find him anywhere. If only he could find Derek, he could concentrate on making sure his daughter was okay and safe from any more harm... It's a good job she had joey now. He popped his head into the living room and Lauren wasn't in there. Joeys shoes were still by the door, so he'd guessed they'd gone to bed. He frowned at the thought of some guy in bed with his daughter. He shook his head knowing he had to get over it, joey was a decent guy and Lauren was happy whenever he was around. He made his way upstairs and he walked straight past Lauren's bedroom and into his own.

**.JL.**

Lauren's naked body woke up in joeys arms the next morning. She smiled as her eyes opened. Last night was amazing and it didn't scare her. She thought having sex again would frighten her, but it was the complete opposite. Joey had catered for her every need, anything she wanted, she got. It was like a miracle for her, to be in this situation... Happy, with a great guy. When she thought back to the night that almost changed everything, it sent her shivers.

**FLASHBACK**

_Lauren panicked, knowing they'd all seen her. She knew she shouldn't of come over the fields but it was getting late, she just wanted to get home as fast as she could so her dad wouldn't worry._

_"Ay! You! Come here!" The man shouted._

_Lauren felt sick to the bottom of her stomach, she didn't want to get involved with these kind of people, so she picked up her speed, pretending she didn't hear them. She kept her head down low, facing the mud and grass. The next thing she knew, someone had grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. She looked up at the person in front of her and he unsettled her as he had a nasty smirk in his face._

_"Sorry I was miles away" she nervously chuckled, hoping to take the attention away._

_"What're you doing walking over these fields? You do know there dangerous at night?" He more or less snapped at her._

_"Yeah I know but my dads waiting for me and I need to hurry" she told him, her voice shaky now._

_"Well you better run along then" he said, stepping back and holding his hand out in the direction she was heading. He had a weird sort of look about him and Lauren was glad give carrying on with her journey. Lauren smiled at him weakly and went to walk off again. She yelped out in pain as she felt her hair being pulled until she was on the floor. The man sat on top of her, happily sighing._

_"you must think I'm stupid, you don't get to see what were doing out here and walk away" he snapped angrily, like she was the one in the wrong here._

_Lauren could hear some other men laughing. "Let me go" she said before screaming, hoping someone would hear her and maybe come to help. However that didn't go down well with the nasty piece of work sat on top of her. His fist soon connected with her face, causing her to scream out in pain._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Lauren jumped as she remembered the pain that one blow to the face had caused her.

"Hey, you okay?" Joey said from behind her.

Lauren hadn't realised he was awake yet, she plastered a smile on her face and turned around to face him.

"Yeah" she smiled, pecking his lips.

Joey frowned at her, knowing she wasn't okay. "You're thinking about it aren't you?" He asked her.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "I think about it sometimes, I can't help it" she told him.

Joey leant down and kissed her forehead. "I know babe, just don't let it scare you no more okay? You've got me and your dad to keep you safe" he told her.

Lauren smiled at him and nodded, before jumping out of bed to get dressed.

Lauren blushed as joeys gaze stuck on her, she didn't really think about what would happen once she got out of bed. "Joey, stop it" she giggled, feeling self conscious now.

"I can't help it, you're beautiful Lauren Branning" he smirked, licking his lips.

Lauren threw his shirt at him and he chuckled. He moved his gaze back to Lauren's stomach once she had her underwear and leggings on.

"You've still got quite a few bruises" he said, in deep thought.

Lauren slipped his hoody over her head and moved to sit on the bed.

"There just bruises Joey, there going to fade" she told him.

"The pain and the memories won't though, look what he's done to you" he frowned.

Lauren sighed. "I know but I'm okay now aren't i? And I've got you too" she told him smiling.

"Yeah you have" he smiled, sitting up so he could hold her.

"if I ever come across the scum that did this to you, I will kick the living shit out of him" he said, feeling angry about the whole thing.

Lauren held into him tighter. "Sorry, shall we go and get breakfast?" Joey asked.

Lauren nodded at him, passing him his track suit bottoms, while he out his shirt on. Lauren kissed his lips softly as he stood up, silently letting him know she was thankful for his support.

**So jacks stressed with work and joeys making promises. Do you think joey will even come across re guy that attacked Lauren? Leave a review please.**


	10. Chapter 10

Lauren and joey both sat at the table having breakfast. They stole the odd glance at each other, smiling when they got caught, or blushing in Lauren's case.

"Do you think it'd be okay to leave the house tonight?" Joey asked Lauren.

She looked up at him in confusion. She didn't really want to leave the house, not unless she had to. She didn't want to risk bumping into the man that haunted her dreams.

"Why?" She asked him.

"Well I wanted to take you out somewhere nice" he told her.

Lauren thought about it for a moment, still a bit unsure. "I don't know joey" she said looking down at her toast.

"You should go out babe, it's not healthy to stay in all the time" jack said, walking through the kitchen.

Lauren looked at joey and he still had a questionable look on his face. "What if something bad happens?" She asked. Jack went silent, seeing his daughters point, he didn't really want her too far away either.

"Nothing is going to happen to you when I'm here okay? And if I ever find the guy that did this to you, I'll make sure he's sorry" joey told her.

Lauren thought about it again. "Okay, I'll go out" she said.

Jack smiled and stole a piece of toast of Lauren's plate. She scowled at him causing both boys to laugh. "I'm off to work babe, going to be a long day and night probably, so I'll see you either tonight or in the morning" he said.

"Okay dad" Lauren smiled.

Jack then turned to joey. He patted him on the back "I like you more and more everyday joey, oh and you're more than welcome to stay over again" jack said before walking down the hall way.

Lauren and joey both laughed as they heard the door slam. "I better go and show my face at home, my dad text this morning, he wants me to take him somewhere for something or other" he admitted.

Lauren smiled and nodded at him, them both getting up from the table, taking their plates and placing them in the sink. "I'll call you later when I'm on my way, be ready for six?" He asked her, kissing her cheek softly.

"Okay" she smiled.

Lauren walked with joey to the front door, and they shared a longish soft kiss before they were broke up by shouting.

"Joey Green!" Some other boys shouted, before wolf whistling.

Lauren looked at him questionably and he chuckled. "I go to college with them, there alright really" he laughed. Lauren smiled at him and pecked his lips.

"See you tonight" he said making his way down the path. He winked at her making her giggle, when he turned around to close the gate.

Lauren turned around, shutting the door with a smile. She couldn't help the nagging thought in her head.

"Green" she mumbled to herself.

She was positive she'd heard that surname somewhere before, but the worried thought was gone quicker than it had came, so she began cleaning the kitchen to distract her thoughts.

**So Lauren thinks the surnames are connecting? Who else does she know that has the surname? I'll be updating again tonight if I get enough reviews:)**


	11. Chapter 11

Lauren sat down at the table thinking about things, she couldn't help but keep thinking back to that night, she had so many questions, she didn't want to know all the answers though.

She was pretty sure she didn't want to know who attacked her. She never wanted to see him or even hear of him again.

Then of course there was joeys surname, which was connected with something she just wasn't sure what.

There was 'the help' as Lauren called her. The woman that helped her so much and get she probably didn't even realise. Lauren did want to see her again.

So many questions, so few answers.

**Just a little insight to what's happening inside Lauren's mind. I'll update again with a proper chapter**.


	12. Chapter 12

Lauren had busied herself all day cleaning, her thoughts often drifting to where she would be going tonight. These thoughts caused her to smile because she couldn't wait to see joey again. Her mind kept cruelly taking her back to the said night, the one she tried so desperately to forget. She physically winced when another memory invaded her head.

**FLASHBACK**

_Lauren's back was wet through, she was lying on the mud and grass as the weight above her held her down. The pain was more or less gone now, she'd felt that much of it that she'd just gone numb. There was no feeling at all. She drifted in and out of consciousness as he moved in and out of her with some force. That didn't stop him though, just made him laugh harder at how weak she was._

_"Stupid little girl" he chuckled nastily, his face inches away from hers, she had her eyes shut but she could feel his face close to her own._

_His lips were on hers and all she could do was let out a long strangled sob, she couldn't physically move. He was too strong for a start and her body felt almost lifeless. After a long painful time, she felt him climb off of her, her eyes still squeezed tight shut. She cried out again as she felt something hit her side. She opened her eyes to see his shoe come flying at her for the second time. Then he was fastening the zipper on his bottoms before smirking once more at her. He leant down to her level._

_"you don't come over these fields again, you don't interfere with our work" he whispered._

_She was frozen to the spot. "Excuse me? Did you hear me or do I have to teach you another lesson?" He chuckled._

_She shook her head as best as she could before he chuckled and walked away. Lauren couldn't seem to move off the floor and it was only when she heard a vehicle speed past her that she realised she was alone now._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Lauren let out a long, steady and shaky breath. That was all over now, she needed to stop letting it worry her so much. She shook her head, realising it was half five already and she made her way upstairs to get ready, excited for tonight.

**Another flash back there, what's going to happen tonight? Leave a review please**


	13. Chapter 13

A knock on the door let Lauren know that once again she was running late. She looked outside her bedroom window seeing joey stood outside the front door. A car horn beeped causing them both to look in the direction I where it was coming from. Joey held his hand up to the person driving the car and then turned around knocking on the door again. Lauren ran around her bedroom looking for her shoes, they were forced onto her feet as she successfully found them. She then rushed down the stairs and opened the door revealing joey.

"Hi" Lauren smiled widely, which in return caused joey to happily smile at her too.

"Hello yourself, you look gorgeous babe" joey said, moving into kiss Lauren's heated cheek.

"Thank you... You look great" Lauren smirked. Joey chuckled as Lauren turned around to put on her leather jacket.

She turned back around to face him and smiled at him as he opened the door. "Soo... Where we going then?" Lauren asked, cheeky smile in place.

"That's a surprise" he told her, pushing her out of the door. Lauren froze, seeing all the people rushing around the streets, even though it was dark, there was people everywhere.

"Go on then" joey chuckled, pushing her back a little.

When she didn't move, joey frowned. He realised what was wrong and went to move in front of her.

"Babe..."

Lauren looked at him with glossy eyes. "What if we bump into him joey?" She asked.

"Then I'll make sure he doesn't even look at you again" joey reassured her.

Lauren stuck her bottom lip out slightly and stared at him with big eyes. "I don't want you to get hurt though" joey rested his hands on her shoulders and moved forward kissing her forehead slowly and softly.

"I won't let any of us get hurt Lauren" he said.

Lauren took a deep breath in, releasing it again soon after. She took joeys outstretched hand and they began walking down the street. She frowned at joey as he brought them to a stop just a couple of houses away from her own.

"Joey?"

"My mum and sister live here, it's my sisters 21st birthday and I was wondering if you wanted to go to her party? If not we can go to the cinema or something?" He asked her, hoping he hadn't pushed her too far.

Lauren smiled "your mum lives here?" She asked. Joey nodded at her.

"So where do you live?" She asked confused.

"With my dad, other end of town" he said.

"So are you okay to meet them? I know they will love you" he told her.

"Okay what are there names?" She asked.

Joey chuckled at Lauren getting herself organised "my mums name is Kathy and my sister is Alice, I haven't seen them for a few weeks so mum will probably get a little crazy" he laughed.

Lauren gasped. "Will I look rude turning up without a gift for Alice?" She asked worriedly.

Joey knocked on the door. "No course you won't babe" he laughed.

Lauren watched as a woman who looked to be in her early forties answered the door. She was a bit smaller than Lauren, thin, dark brown eyes and dark hair that was wavy and hung at her shoulders.

"Joe!" She gasped, pulling him straight into a hug.

"Hey mum" he chuckled as she looked to be squeezing the life out of him.

Lauren stood there awkwardly, looking at the woman, letting the mother and son bond. "Oh sorry, how rude of me, you must be Lauren?" She asked.

Lauren smiled, quite shocked at how she knew who she was, well she would know who she was wouldn't she?

"Yeah I'm Lauren" she smiled. Kathy moved into hug her.

"My son wasn't lying, you are beautiful" she smiled, widely.

"Thanks" Lauren laughed nervously.

"You gonna let us in then?" Joey said sarcastically.

Lauren laughed as joey walked past his mum and she slapped him at the back of the head.

"You'll do well to watch your mouth" she said with humour.

"Come on in sweetheart" Kathy said, with a welcoming smile attached.

Lauren was barely in the house when a girl flew into joeys arms. She watched as joey wrapped his arms around her chuckling.

"Alice! Your killing me here" he told her making her let go.

Lauren visibly relaxed when she heard joey refer to the girl as 'Alice'. "I've missed you loads" she told him, laughing.

"I know, I've just been busy" joey told her.

Lauren looked around her, seeing a lot of people getting ready.

"This is Lauren" joey said, motioning over to her.

Alice hugged her. "Well I honour you for putting up with this grumpy sod" Alice laughed, soon to be joined by Lauren and Kathy.

"Ay!" Joey frowned causing Lauren to smile at him.

"Alice go and finish getting ready, were running late" Kathy said. Alice rolled her eyes before dashing up stairs.

"How's your dad?" Kathy asked.

"Mum don't..." He said in an annoyed tone.

"I don't like you living with him joe, he's a nasty man" Kathy told him.

"He's my dad" joey sighed. "Hmm, we all make mistakes" she mumbled.

.**JL**.

Around twenty minutes later everyone was making their way to the civic centre. Lauren and joey walked behind everyone hand in hand.

"So I was thinking..." Joey began, interrupted by Lauren's giggles.

He furrowed his eyebrows together. "Bit dangerous ain't it?" She laughed.

"Very funny" he smirked.

"Anyway I was thinking, this is like our second date now yeah?" He asked.

Lauren nodded waiting for him to get to the point.

"Well do you think it's too soon for me to ask you out?" He asked.

Lauren turned her head to look at him properly, watching as he grinned at her. She shook her head.

"Good, because I was wondering if you would like to be my girlfriend?" He asked her.

Lauren smiled, her lips tight. She jumped into his arms, hugging him as right as she could. "I would love that" she giggled.

"They're cute" Alice said, as her and Kathy turned around to look why the pair had stopped walking.

**Yay! They're together! What do you thinks going to happen next? So joeys dad got brought up as a bit of a bad person in this chapter. What do you think? Leave a review please.**


	14. Chapter 14

Lauren watched as a slightly tipsy Kathy insulted Joey more and more about his dad and he seemed to be becoming more annoyed. Lauren gathered there were some unsolved issues here and they all had very different opinions on the matter.

"Mum can you stop? He's my dad and I don't care what he's done, he's always going to be my dad" Joey snapped, shocking the people around him, especially Lauren.

"Give it up joey! Derek is a vile human being and he doesn't deserve the time of day" Alice slurred.

By this point Lauren had figured out that Derek (she had just learned the name of Alice) had done some bad things and joey was the only one that wasn't bothered by it.

"He's our dad Alice" joey said.

"He's nothing to me, Derek green is nothing but a distant memory to any of us" she told him.

That was when it clicked for Lauren. That's how she recognised Joey's surname. Derek green was the man her dad had been trying to put away for at least the last couple of years. This was probably not going to go down well with joey or her dad. Lauren was snapped out of her thoughts when Joey's chair scraped the floor after it had been forced back. She looked up in shock as he stormed across the dance floor and out of the fire exit doors.

What was she meant to do now? Walk through the streets alone at this time of night? Or morning as it was now.

"Should I go after him?" Lauren asked Alice.

"Hm" Alice shook her head, no point he'll be halfway to daddy's or somewhere by now.

Lauren sighed and carried on drinking her drink. She waited up to an hour and Joey still hadn't come back for her, she got her phone out of her bag and rang his phone. She tried three times before she gave up, clearly he wasn't coming back anytime soon. She made her excuses to Alice and Kathy and decided to make her own way home.

She stepped out into the cool air, it sending goose pimples up her arms immediately. She pulled her coat tighter around her body and began to walk through the dark and deserted streets. Much to her surprise, she found the walk quite pleasant. There was hardly nobody about which relieved her to no end. She wasn't really paying attention to anything around her which explains how she tripped over her own feet, causing her to fall forward and land on her stomach.

"Hey you alright sweetheart?" Someone asked helping her up.

She looked up to see a guy who looked to be in his early thirties. She panicked a little at first, when he held her hand to help her up but she soon saw his intentions were pure.

"Yeah I wasn't watching where i was going" she said.

The guy chuckled at her and pulled something out of her hair, Lauren giggling as she saw it was a bit of paper.

Lauren saw Joey come storming over, knowing immediately what was going to happen, he pushed her behind him and yelled at the guy in front of him.

"Joey!" She snapped.

"I'm so sorry" she apologised to the guy.

"It's okay" he smiled before walking off.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She snapped at Joey, causing him to frown.

"Well I thought he was giving you hassle" joey told her, guilty expression in tact.

"Well he was helping me, I fell over" she told him.

"Oh"

"Yeah oh! I was too busy wondering why my so called boyfriend had ditched me on our date to worry about where I was walking" she snapped.

"Babe I'm sorry I just..." He trailed off.

"No Joey, you knew I was scared to even walk out of the house tonight and then you just leave me to walk across town by myself, you know if I knew you was going to ditch me... I wouldn't have come out in the first place and I certainly wouldn't have agreed to be your girlfriend" she shouted at him this time.

"I'm sorry, I was just angry with my mum and Alice, but not with you" he sighed.

"You left me to walk home by myself at 3am in the morning, even though you know how hard that is for me" she told him as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Joeys face softened, realising he had done the wrong thing tonight.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have left you" he told her. "Please don't cry" he sighed moving forward, only for Lauren to take a step backwards.

"Lauren, come inside darling" her dad shouted from the door, which happened to be just where they were stood.

"Go home Joey" she told him.

"I want to be with you tonight babe, I don't want to leave you while your like this" he said.

Jack scowled at Joey and Lauren sighed in frustration.

"Go home" she told him again before walking off.

**Oh dear! I think we've hit out first bump, relationship wise... So nobody likes Derek apart from Joey and Joey's dad is also the man that Jack's been trying to put in prison for a while now... I wonder how that will go... I'll update again later if I have enough reviews**


	15. Chapter 15

Jack silently crept up the stairs, after finishing a little paperwork. He opened Lauren's bedroom door to see her curled up in a ball, her eyes were shut and she looked relaxed, which gave him a little comfort. He smiled and then turned to walk out of her room.

"Dad?" Lauren asked, bringing him to a standstill.

"You okay babe?" He asked her, he should've known she wasn't actually asleep.

Lauren sat up so her back was leaning against the wall. "I think there's something I have to tell you" she admitted.

Jack walked over to her bed and sat on it, lifting Lauren's legs up and placing them back down on top of his lap.

"I'm not going to like this very much am I?" He asked her.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "Let's have it" he said.

"You know that guy Derek green?" She asked.

Jacks eyes widened. "Oh god what? How do you know about him?" Jack asked.

"I've heard you mention him on the phone a lot... And tonight I found out that joeys surname is green too" she told him.

Jacks hand swept over his face and he sighed again before looking back up at Lauren.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence babe" jack tried to reassure her, as well as himself.

"His dads name is Derek" she sighed.

"Oh" he mumbled.

"Well that's not good is it?" Lauren shook her head.

"Is that why you fell out?" Jack asked. Lauren shook her head again.

"We went to his sisters 21st birthday party, they only live two doors down you know?" Lauren informed him.

"Now that's a coincidence" he smirked.

"Anyway, joey asked me out, I mean properly when we were all walking to the civic centre" she smiled, lost in thought.

"Well that's great babe" jack told her.

"Yeah... Alice and Kathy, joeys sister and mum kept digging at him all night about Derek, saying he was a vile and nasty person" she said.

Jack chuckled. "They're not wrong" he mumbled.

"Well I think joeys a bit blind from it all it he just don't wanna admit his dads a bad person because in the end he just lost it... He got up and left without one word, that's why we fell out because I had to walk across town by myself" Lauren told him.

"Lauren" jack sighed. "Why didn't you call me?" He asked.

"Sorry, I didn't think" she said.

He smiled at her weakly. "I know joey was pretty stupid for doing that but he hasn't saw past his dads reputation or he hasn't been exposed to it yet, it probably hurt him how they were bitching about him" jack told her.

Lauren didn't answer, just nodded once.

"I think you should call him first thing babe, he made a mistake and if what he was like tonight has anything to go by... He looked pretty sorry to me" jack told her.

"I know" Lauren mumbled, feeling guilty.

"I'm guessing that's him that's blowing your phone up too, how many messages is that now?" He smirked.

Lauren laughed too, seeing her dads point. "I'll call him in the morning" she said.

Jack smiled and kissed Lauren's cheek. "Good girl"

Jack stopped as he was about to go through her bedroom door. "Tell him the truth about my involvement with Derek, no lies babe" jack told her.

"I'm going to" she replied.

"And I don't want you anywhere near Derek okay?" He told her in a warning tone.

"Promise" she told him, settling back into bed.

**So they've had their first proper fall out? Is Lauren going to tell joey the truth? Do you think they'll make up? Leave a review please.**


	16. Chapter 16

Lauren was awake bright and early the next morning. She had made her way through the kitchen, living room and bathroom spring cleaning before she decided to give up. Moving over to the other end if the kitchen, she flicked the kettle on. She reached for a mug from the cupboard above and placed it on the worktop in front of her, before putting some coffee and sugar into it too. The kettle boiled and Lauren wore a pout on her face as she poured the water into her cup.

Once she was sat down at the table she let herself think about joey. She hadn't called him yet and if was almost one o'clock in the afternoon, but at the same time, joey hadn't called her either. Lauren glanced down the hallway as someone knocked on the door. She took another quick sip of her coffee and made her way to the door. She had a smile on her face hoping it would be joey on the other side. She frowned when she saw it wasn't joey.

"Oh hi, Alice" Lauren said.

Alice studied Lauren for a moment. "You okay?" Alice asked.

"Yeah" Lauren smiled.

"There's something I need to say, can I come in?" Alice asked her.

Lauren looked a bit uncomfortable in the present situation and Alice laughed slightly. "It's about joey" she sighed.

Lauren's eyes widened. "Oh god is he alright?" Lauren asked.

"Hm" she mumbled, shrugging her shoulders.

Lauren opened the door wider for Alice to walk in. "Do you want a drink?" Lauren asked, trying to avoid the obvious.

"No thanks" Alice said in a happy kind of high pitched voice.

"So is joey okay?" Lauren asked, wanting to get it over and done with.

"Not really, he's being proper miserable" Alice said. They both sat down at the kitchen table and Lauren frowned.

"Why?" She asked.

"Well me and mum were definitely too hard on him, we shouldn't have wound him up about Derek, we know how much joey loves his dad and he don't need us breathing down his neck" Alice admitted.

Lauren pursed her lips together, still looking at Alice. "And you don't look like you're doing much better" Alice said motioning to Lauren's frown.

Lauren looked up at alice with a raised eyebrow. "What's any of this got to do with me?" She asked Alice.

Alice raised both of her eyebrows at Lauren in a 'really?' Kind of look. "Joey is annoyed with me and mum about what we said last night but he's very angry with himself for how he made you feel, he's miserable over there" Alice said.

"He's at your house?" Lauren asked.

Alice nodded "yep just four doors down... I bet he would love for you to pay him a visit" she smirked.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "I was going to call him but I wasn't sure he'd be happy to hear from me... I said some stupid things last night and I didn't even give him the chance to explain" Lauren sighed.

"I know for a fact that he would love to see you, just go over yeah?" Alice asked her standing up.

"Maybe" Lauren mumbled.

"I've gotta go, joey doesn't know I've been to see you, so please don't say anything" Alice said.

Lauren smiled to her and she disappeared down the hallway and out of the door.

.**JL**.

Despite all efforts, Lauren found herself outside the front door of Kathy's house just half an hour after Alice left. She waited patiently at the door waiting for someone to answer.

"Hi is..." Lauren trailed off, seeing it was joey stood at the door.

"Lauren" joey said, surprised to see her.

"I thought we could talk" she told him.

Joey frowned at her, holding the door a bit closer to him. "Why? So you can tell me how useless I am, again" he snapped at her.

Lauren's expression changed as she took in joeys tone. "I never said you were useless, I was just angry" she told him.

"I know, I was angry too Lauren, I was angry at my mum and sister and that is the only reason I stormed off, and when I came back for you... I was the one that was in the wrong?" He asked raising both eyebrows at her.

Lauren frowned at him this time. "You left me to walk across town by myself after you promised me you'd be there!" Lauren snapped at him, she didn't really want to snap at him but if he was going to do it to her, she would do the same.

"It's not my fault you're too scared to go outside by yourself is it?" He asked her.

Lauren laughed bitterly at him as tears escaped her eyes. She took a step back and wiped at her tears. "You know what joey, this is clearly not what you want so maybe... Maybe we should just call it quits now" she told him as more tears spilled.

Joeys expression softened, he was taking his anger out in his girlfriend rather than his mum and sister, which he hated himself for.

"No Lauren, I didn't mean to..." He was cut off by Lauren.

"You know, I would've never told you what happened that night if I thought you would throw..." She sobbed on the last word. "If I thought you would throw it back in my face" she told him.

Joey watched as she spun round and ran back up the street.

Joey rested his palm on his forehead and sighed.

"Well that was very stupid!" Joey turned around to see his dad standing there.

"What?" He snapped at him too.

"As much as I'd rather not, I gotta agree with your dad, go after her joe" Kathy told him.

"Has something happened to her? She mentioned telling you something about some night?" Kathy asked.

Joey sighed. "She was raped a while back now" he admitted.

"You go round there now and you be there for her" Derek scolded him.

Joey was out of the house in seconds, reaching Lauren's door and banging on it.

"Lauren it's me, let me in please" he shouted through the letterbox. He didn't get a reply, not that he was expecting to.

"I'm so sorry Lauren, I didn't mean any of that" he said.

The door opened to reveal Lauren stood there, her eyes were all red from were she'd been crying and she still had tears on her face.

"I'm sorry" he said, stepping into the house. Lauren looked up at him, forgetting everything else and she pressed her lips into his.

"I love you joey" she said in between kisses.

Joey broke the kiss and looked at her with wide eyes.

"You love me?" She nodded at him with some force and he kissed her again, much more faster this time.

He pinned her back against the door as he lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist.

"I love you too" Lauren's lips were on joeys again and he stumbled upstairs with her.

"Joey, please" she begged as his lips worked her neck.

Joey smirked at her and they both made work at removing their clothes. Once they were fully naked, joey walked over to her, entwining both their hands.

He raised her left hand to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist before putting it down and repeating the action with her right wrist. His lips then moved to her collar bone, trailing kisses upwards until he reached her jaw line. He smiled at her and then placed a kiss onto her chin before moving back down her neck and towards her chest. He smiled against the roundness of her breast as he heard her groan, out of pleasure, but mainly out of frustration. He placed one hand on her lower back and pressed her stomach into his body, as his mouth covered her nipple.

"Oh god" she moaned.

Joeys tongue swirled around and around it, letting Lauren feel the vibrations of pleasure. Lauren frowned when joeys lips were off her nipple again but she shivered as his lips pressed soft kisses back up her chest, up her neck and reaching her mouth this time. Lauren slid her tongue into his mouth, not wanting to waste a second. Joey lowered Lauren onto the bed and he lay above her. He reached down and kissed the top of her nose making her giggle.

"joey" she laughed.

"I love you" he told her before moving inside her in one slow movement.

"I... Oh" she moaned.

Joey smirked at her facial expression before smirking at her blush. He started moving slow before he picked up the speed. Moans were spilling from both of them and just as they were about to reach their peak, Lauren stopped joey from moving.

He frowned at her as she got up but was smiling again as she lay him flat on his back, climbing on top if him. She rested her hands flat on his stomach and moved up and down on him.

"Oh god babe" he groaned, feeling the pleasure she was giving him.

He sat up slightly knowing they were both close. His hands moved to her hips, helping her along a little as their mouths closed on one another. Joeys hand moved to in between her legs, pressing hard on her clit... Which in return caused her to scream out as she fell apart around him. Hearing Lauren call his name out like that made him reach his peak too, repeating her name over and over.

**Started off bad but I think we can agree if ended well! Joey still doesn't know jack is out to get his dad... Do you think joey knows his dad is a bad un? Or do you think Derek is simply misunderstood? Let me know... Leave me lots of reviews if you want more:)**


	17. Chapter 17

Over the next passing weeks, Lauren and joeys relationship grew stronger and stronger. Lauren still hadn't found the 'right time' to tell joey about her dad. She tried telling herself that it wasn't her place to tell him and that if he should know what his dad was really like then it should be Derek that told him. She had even tried on many (and by many I mean almost every day) occasions to get her dad to talk about it. I mean technically it was her dad that had made the name known around the house and if it wasn't for jack bringing his work home and filling Lauren in in the details, she wouldn't even had recognised the name 'Derek Green', so her argument was that jack should tell joey, which in return had caused many arguments between Lauren and jack.

Joey could sometimes sense the atmosphere between the two of them and had asked Lauren about it a couple of times. She had always said her dad was just busy with work and he was stressed lately as he couldn't nail a certain case. Joey always accepted Lauren's explanation, if only he knew that the certain case was his dads case. Lauren often felt guilty about knowing his dad could be taken away from him at any moment and he knew nothing about it while she had known for ages.

Things had settled down on the whole attack front. Without Lauren knowing jack had took the description of the man Lauren had given and personally hunted him down. It all added up once he was finally in custody. They did a check on his history and they had found that the man was a drug dealer, which explains why he got so mad when Lauren saw him doing his business and there were a lot more suspects coming forward. There was eight girls, all around Lauren's age that had been raped by this man and several off them had come off a lot worse.

Jack had also let joey know about this, joey helped jack find the man... Joey had passed all of his courses with flying colours and was now in the police force. He was training along side jack, he had taken him under his wing. So when jack had got information about this guy, Stuart his name was. Jack and joey had gone to see him just as they came off duty. Let's say some people weren't too Impressed at the state of the man when he was out in the cell but with jack being a DCI and all, they took his word over some rapists.

.**JL**.

Jack and joey were walking out of the station off duty when a car beeped across from then. Jack scowled at the driver, knowing it was Derek. They had found him now but didn't have enough evidence on him.

"That your dad?" Jack asked joey.

Joey smiled, pulling his hoody over his head. This was the first time he had seen Derek when he had joey with him.

"Yeah I best go, he's a right grumpy sod when he don't get his own way" joey chuckled.

Jack laughed too. "Yeah I bet" joey jogged down the steps before turning back around.

"Can you tell Lauren I'll call her tonight?" Joey asked.

Jack nodded at the boy and then watched as he jogged over the car park, getting into the car with Derek.

.**JL**.

Lauren looked up as her dad walked into the living room. "Good day studying?" He asked.

"Yep, all essays completed" she smiled. Lauren was studying art and design, wanting to do the animation for children's books.

"Listen babe, Derek just picked joey up and it took all my power not to march over and give him what for..." He sighed.

Lauren sighed too, feeling an argument coming on. "Dad..." She sighed.

"No Lauren, you tell him tomorrow, no buts. He deserves to know, you can't have a relationship with him and be lying all the time" he told her.

"Fine" she mumbled.

"I'm going to bed" he said, moving over to kiss her cheek.

Jack left to go to bed and Lauren lifted both hands to cover her face.

"Ugh!" She growled, feeling frustrated.

**Tense! Lauren and jacks relationship is being hit from all angles, How do you think that talk will go? Leave me a review please.**


	18. Chapter 18

Lauren tossed and turned all night, all she could think about was joey. He'd called her earlier saying that he wouldn't be over tonight because him and his dad were going out for a drink and he sounded really happy about it. Lauren put her happy voice on as he spoke to her, only just managing to tell him she loved him without breaking down in tears. Joey had seemed to pick up on her mood too, asking if she was okay, because she sounded in edge. She was on edge alright.

She finally gave up at two in the morning... After about two and half hour sleep she made her way downstairs. She flicked the kettle on and waited for it to boil, before pouring herself a very strong coffee. She sat there wondering how her talk with joey would go, they'd been getting on so amazingly well, Lauren was head over heels and she was pretty sure joey was too. Every spare minute they had was spent together and there hadn't been a day were they hadn't seen each other or if they both had busy days they would have a long phone call at the end of the night, which very often resulted in Lauren falling asleep while he spoke to her.

**FLASHBACK**

_Lauren sighed looking at her phone, on the sofa. It had been a long day and joey had to work late, so he was just gonna head home._

_"Give him a chance to get in the house and your phone will be blaring" jack chuckled._

_Lauren smirked at her dad clearly catching her out. Before she could say anything back her phone started ringing._

_"Night sweetheart" he laughed._

_Lauren giggled and made her way upstairs answering her phone as she did._

_"Hi babe" she smiled down the phone._

_"Hello you" joey said._

_Lauren put the phone on speaker while she got into her pyjamas._

_"Did you have a good day at work? My dad said you were great" Lauren told him._

_Joey chuckled down the phone. "It was so amazing babe, your dad said that?" He asked her._

_"Yep" she smirked, getting into bed and under the covers. Lauren heard his dad shout something and joey went quiet._

_"Does he call you Joseph?" Lauren asked, smiling to herself._

_"Yeah" he groaned making Lauren giggle. "And don't think I don't know your grinning"_

_Lauren laughed, cheekily. "Do you have to go?" Lauren asked him, hearing Derek tell him he needed to sleep now._

_"Goodnight Lauren" Derek shouted through the phone with humour._

_Lauren said good night back laughing. She's never net Derek in person but she'd spoken on the phone with him before and he seemed pretty alright to her... Not that she's ever tell her dad that._

_"Hold on a minute babe" joey said before she heard rustling. It was about a minute later before joey was back on the phone._

_"I'm back" he whispered._

_Lauren frowned "why are you whispering?" She laughed._

_"Supposed to be asleep" he laughed._

_"So how've you been today?" Joey asked her._

_"Oh you know, studying and oh... More studying" she sighed._

_"It'll all be worth it in the end though babe" he smiled through the phone. "And you'll ace all the exams" he told her, receiving no reply._

_He frowned. "Lauren?" He chuckled down the phone. "You've fell asleep on me again haven't you?" He laughed. The confirmation came when he didn't get a reply. "Night babe" he said before hanging up the phone._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Lauren sat there drinking coffee after coffee thinking about what she was going to say to joey. Her dad came downstairs and switched the kitchen light on, disrupting her thoughts.

"Lauren? What you doing down here? Have you even been to sleep?" He asked her.

She groaned at him for interrupting her thoughts. "How can i sleep when you're making me tell joey something that could force our relationship to fail" she snapped.

"Don't get snappy with me, and don't be so dramatic Lauren, he'll understand" he said, slipping his jacket on.

There was a knock on the back door and both Lauren and jack saw joey stood there, an unimpressed look on his face as the rain drenched him. Lauren couldn't even bring herself to laugh him. She was in full swing bad mood.

"Alright joe? I'm giving you the day off today... Lauren needs to talk to you about something and your probably not going to like it" jack said.

Lauren's jaw dropped down, she couldn't even get out of it now. Joey looked at Lauren confused while she scowled at her dad.

"Sorry babe, but you were probably gonna try and worm your way out of it" he said, before walking out of the door, leaving the two youngsters to it.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?" Joey asked sitting down in the chair next to her.

"Not really" she mumbled, staring down into her cold cup of coffee.

"So I'm not going to like it?" He asked her, playfully nudging her arm. Lauren scowled at him.

"No your not" she snapped.

"Someone's in a bad mood" he chuckled, only to infuriate her more.

"Why are you so happy this morning anyway?" She more or less told him off for being in a good mood when she wasn't.

Joey sighed. "Okay, what is wrong with you today? You've never been like this with me before" he said.

"Maybe I'm just making it easier for you to leave" she told him.

Joey frowned at her. "Babe, why would I leave you?" He asked her.

"You're going to leave once I tell you" she said.

"I don't think so... But why don't you let me be the judge of that?" He asked her.

She kept her eyes in the mug. "You're going to hate me" she frowned.

Joey rested his hand on top of hers. "I could never, tell me babe"

"My dads been trying to put this guy in prison for years now but he always gets away at the trial, dad reckons he scares the witnesses or something" she said.

"Do you have a point babe?" He asked.

"He's had people attacked, he deals drugs, sells dodgy motors, he's basically a nasty piece of work, and well basically I found out that the man is..." She trailed off.

"Who?" He asked, becoming more curious.

"Your dad" she sighed.

Joey was quiet for a couple of seconds. "How long have you known?" He asked her.

"I don't know, about two or three months I guess" she said.

"Lauren" he sighed.

"I'm sorry I just didn't know how to tell you, he's your dad joey" she said, finally looking up at his face.

"I knew" he said. Lauren looked up at him shocked.

"What?" She asked him.

"I came across some paperwork within the first few days of working at the station and I saw dad was drug dealing" he sighed.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders "because mum and Alice were right and they'd probably take pride in admitting it" he told her.

"They wouldn't do that joey, I wouldn't of judged you, you could've spoken to me" she said, feeling a little hurt he hadn't spoken to her.

"I know I could've babe and I wish I had" he admitted.

"You do trust me don't you?" She asked him.

Joey raised his eyes to meet Lauren's, seeing the upset expression she wore.

"Of course I do babe, your probably the only person i trust one hundred percent" he told her, linking their hands and then their fingers, underneath the table, before resting them on his leg.

"All the other stuff though Lauren, my dad getting people attacked that's not him" he said shaking his head. "I know my dads dodgy with the cars and I realise he is a dealer but he would never harm a hair on anyone's head, I know that much" he told her.

"That's what the police are saying though" Lauren informed him.

"There trying to charge him with what they can... They'll do whatever it takes to see him go down" he said.

Lauren squeezed his hand and he smiled at her. She wasn't going to tell him he was being naive, because it could just be that her dad and the others just had a disliking for Derek.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked him.

Joey looked up at her again, she looked really worried and now he paid more attention she was looking pale. He shuffled his chair so there was no space between them and pulled her into his body, his arm wrapping securely around her back. "No babe, I'll never be mad at you" he told her.

Lauren visibly relaxed and let herself get comfortable in his embrace.

.**JL.**

Joey lifted Lauren's head up in an attempt to carry her up to bed but failed as she woke up. She'd fallen asleep on his chest about an hour ago but he didn't have the heart to wake her.

"Joey?" She asked.

"I'm here babe, you fell asleep" he chuckled.

"Sorry I only had about two hours altogether last night" she said sitting up.

Joey frowned at her. "Babe you shouldn't have worried about all of this" he told her.

"I just thought if I told you, you'd be mad and you'd leave" she admitted.

"Never" he said, kissing her forehead.

Joey stood up taking Lauren's hand and he lead her into the living room to the sofa. He let her sit down and then he got the blanket and cushions for them.

"Sleep babe" he said sticking the tv on.

Lauren shuffled her body closer to his and rested her head in his lap. Joey gently ran his fingers through Lauren's hair lulling her into a deep sleep. "I love you joey"

"I love you too"

**So that went well, do you think joeys right about his dad? Or do you think Derek really is crooked? There's more complications to come I'm afraid! Leave me a review please., maybe able to update again later**


	19. Chapter 19

Jack walked into the house at four in the morning, another long day and night at work, but fortunately for him, he'd took several steps to bringing Derek down. Jack smiled walking into the living room. Joey was laid length ways on the sofa with Lauren tucked into his side. Jack smirked. Clearly things had worked out. Jack placed a blanket over them before going to bed himself.

.**JL**.

Both of the youngsters were woke up to joeys phone blaring out, they both groaned as joey lazily reached for his mobile, he turned his alarm off and rested his head back down.

"I've got to go to work babe" joey told Lauren.

"Mm" she groaned, turning around and burying her face into his chest. Joey wrapped his arm around her waist... He could give her five more minutes.

"I'm coming into the station later" Lauren told joey.

Joey frowned into mid air. "Why?" He asked her.

Lauren sighed. "Uh dunno, dads lazy, gotta take him some paperwork in" she said.

Joey chuckled "your dads not lazy babe" he told her.

Lauren laughed and watched as joey got up, starting to get dressed in a world of his own. "Is everything okay joey?" Lauren asked him. She frowned when he didn't answer her. "Joey" she asked, wearing a worried expression.

Joey flinched as she touched his shoulder. "Sorry"

"You okay?" She asked him, again.

"Yeah, it's just... I think I'm going to get dad to come into the station for questioning today" he sighed.

Lauren hugged him from behind. "You don't have to get involved in all of that joey, just let dad sort it" Lauren told him.

Joey turned around and smiled at Lauren. He tucked some hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. "I want to do this Lauren, if it's all true... I don't need him to be my dad and I certainly don't want him to" he told her.

"Okay well call me" she said, pecking his lips.

.**JL**.

Later on in the afternoon joey was pacing jacks office. He wasn't sure if he'd done the right thing or not. Derek had thought he was going to lunch with joey but when he got there he was took away by two police officers. Jack had made sure joey acted surprised so Derek wouldn't give him any grief. In return Derek had acted shocked by the whole arrest and told joey it was all a misunderstanding, or shouted it as he was dragged away. It took all of jacks will power not to go and floor Derek but he stayed put. Lauren had just walked in as Derek was being dragged away.

**FLASHBACK**

_Lauren walked into the station, slowing down as she heard shouting. She saw many emotions cross joeys face as he watched his dad being taken away. Joey clocked Lauren and froze._

_"Lauren babe, you don't need to see this" joey said moving over to her, jack too._

_"Ah your Lauren? This is not what it looks like darling" Derek said, looking up at Lauren properly and smiling, bringing everyone to a standstill._

_"Do not talk to my daughter! Do you hear me?!" Jack said, storming over to Derek, only to be stopped by his colleagues._

_"Just do as they say dad and it'll be fine" joey said in a weak voice._

_Derek scoffed at joey and everyone around him. "I thought it was bad, you deciding to become a copper... But going out with the bosses daughter, no no no" he chuckled._

_"Dad" joey sighed. "Don't talk about Lauren like that"_

_"It's all a misunderstanding Joseph, you wait and see" Derek chuckled._

_Lauren's eyes didn't meet Derek's, jack could tell she didn't like the look of him... He came across very intimidating. "Babe, let's go to your dads office" joey told Lauren, trying to take her away from the situation._

_Lauren wasn't really paying attention to anyone around her, she couldn't. She looked at her dad. "I just came to give you these, I'm not staying" she chucked the folder to her dad and fled the station._

_Jack frowned as he could see her running across the car park. "What's that about?" He mumbled, more to himself than anyone._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"Joey sit down, you did the right thing" jack told him.

Joey turned around to face him. "You think stitching my dad up is the right thing?" He glared.

"If he's guilty of all this then yes" jack told him.

"Please, we all know your gonna make sure he goes down no matter what" joey scoffed.

Jack looked up from his paperwork and kept his eyes on joey for a second. "What about Lauren joey? Did you even notice her run off? Did you see how scared she looked when your dad looked at her? Where is she now?" Jack snapped.

"I'll deal with Lauren later, right now I need to concentrate on my dad" joey said.

"Excuse me? You won't deal with Lauren... She's not an object joey!" Jack snapped back.

Joey sighed and brought his hand to cover his face. "You know I didn't mean it like that" he sighed.

Jack was about to say something when Lauren slid into his office. "Dad... I need to talk to you" she said, ignoring joeys presence.

Jack and joey both stared at Lauren. She rubbed the palms of her hands in the side of her jeans and she looked really pale. "Dad, please..." She said, her voice shaky.

"Joey can you give me a minute?" Jack asked him.

Joey nodded and walked towards Lauren. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed her cheek. Jack watched as a tear rolled down her cheek and she started to sob once the door was closed. Jack was by her side in a second, wrapping his arms around her.

"What is it babe?" He asked, pushing her back a little by her shoulders.

"The man that attacked me... I just saw him and he's gonna come and get me" she cried.

Jacks eyes widened. "I already arrested the guy that did it, me and joey did..." He told her.

"Then you must have the wrong guy dad" she cried again.

"where is he?" Jack asked her, slipping his jacket on.

She looked up at him with glossy eyes. She attempted a sentence but began crying harder. Inhaling a deep breath, she steadied herself.

"It's Derek"

**Oh it's Derek! How is that going to go?! Things are tense enough with joey, how's he going to take that? Leave a review please and I'll update again later if I get enough**


	20. Chapter 20

"It's Derek"

Jack locked eyes with Lauren, he ran past her without a word and all Lauren could hear was the slamming of doors and jacks footsteps on the stairs. Lauren walked over to jacks desk, sinking onto the chair and resting her head in her hands on his desk. She let the tears keep on falling as her mind kept replaying events of that night.

**FLASHBACK**

_Lauren lay on the ground motionless, Derek and the other guys she could hear had sped off in the van around ten minutes ago. She slowly got herself up into a sitting position, wincing as a pain shot through her ribs. It was another couple of minutes until she could physically get herself up on her feet. She had one foot on the ground and was supporting herself with her knee on the ground. She tried to make the rest of her body stand up straight but froze still as she heard a van speeding, from what she could make out, it was moving closer to her. She screamed out in pain as she boosted her body up with all the strength she had and attempted running. She was brought to a stop when her arm was yanked._

_"Anybody finds out about this, there will be consequences" he whispered in her ear, before kissing her earlobe._

_Lauren nodded, still crying as his hands were touching her again._

_"Good girl" he chuckled, before shoving her on the floor._

_Lauren simply laid there on the wet, muddy floor. She felt dirty and that wasn't because she was lying in mud or the fact it was raining, which only made things much worse. But the real dirty was the one she felt inside, the one she was pretty sure she would feel forever. She froze again when she felt herself being shaken. Her body was turned over and she came face to face with a woman, a woman she didn't recognise._

_"Hello darling, are you okay?" The woman asked._

_Lauren didn't do anything, she didn't say anything. Even if she tried, she was pretty sure she couldn't move of the ground... She couldn't find words, actions or anything. The woman looked so friendly and Lauren just couldn't do anything to explain what she was feeling._

_"Let me help you" Lauren heard her say before she helped her onto her feet._

_Lauren felt dizzy, like she was going to throw up and she swayed on the spot slightly. The woman had hold of Lauren's waist and she helped her walk. They walked across the field, and although it took some time, they made it to the other end in silence._

_"You should go home, do you live far away?" The woman asked._

_Lauren looked at her and shook her head. "Who are you?" Lauren whispered. She smiled warmly at Lauren_

_"I'm here to help" she said, before walking away._

_Lauren frowned and watched as the woman could no longer be seen. "The help" she mumbled to herself_**.**

**END OF FLASHBACK**

The door to jacks office flew open and joey stood there. Lauren looked up at him with glossy eyes and searched his face for any emotion, she got nothing.

"Why have you told jack that it was my dad that raped you? Is he making you say that so my dad goes down?" Joey asked.

Lauren stared at him in disbelief as he shut the door behind him.

"It was him" she mumbled, staring down at the desk.

Joey walked over to the desk. "He may be a lot of things Lauren, but my dad is not a rapist" he snapped.

"It was him" she told him again.

"NO!" Joey shouted at her.

"Joey, I think I would remember the man who did that to me, it's not something I can just turn on and off!" She shouted back, standing up.

"Why are you doing this? Your lying" he told her, much calmer this time.

Lauren stared at joey and they both locked each other's gaze. "Look me in the eyes joey, and tell me you don't believe me" she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Joey didn't say anything, just carried on staring at her.

"I won't live in fear no more joey, I don't want to be scared to walk out of the house, I want to be normal" she cried.

Joey watched as she walked out of her dads office and he stood there in disbelief, not bothering to take in what she just told him.

.**JL.**

Lauren was stopped at the bottom of the stairs by her dad, he had a worried look in his eye and Lauren knew whatever was about to happen was not going to be good.

"I need you to confirm that Derek is your attacker babe, I'm sorry but you have to do this" jack told her.

"No! I won't do that, I cant be in the same room as him, I can't dad" she cried.

"Is that because your lying?" Joey said from behind her.

Jack and Lauren turned around in shock and Lauren lost it. "You absolute arsehole! Why are you doing this to me? Your supposed to love me but you don't do you?" Lauren screamed at joey.

She was pointing in his face and nobody did anything to stop her, not even joey.

"I do" he mumbled.

"No you don't! You think I'm lying because your precious daddy could never do anything wrong! Well grow the fuck up joey... I hate you, I hate you.. I fucking hate you!, you were supposed to love me and help me and be there for me" She shouted, sobbing the last words as jack dragged her away.

Joey stood there in shock at Lauren's outburst, he was certain the others were making her say those things about his dad, he noticed Alice and Kathy stood just at the side of the wall, along with his colleagues. They shook their heads at him and walked in the direction of where Lauren had been taken.

**So who do you think 'the help' was? Do you think Lauren's telling the truth about Derek and do you think joey handled that right? Leave me a review please.**


	21. Chapter 21

Jack and joey waited impatiently in the interview room, alongside if two uniformed officers and a brief. Joey thought they were all going a bit over the top with things, this was the first time he'd been on a high risk case, and it was his girlfriends case... Well ex girlfriend now. He couldn't help but notice jack, he was giving him this murderous look, he wasn't giving up this time though, joey was certain he was right. He loved Lauren, he really did but he knew his dad, and this wasn't what he did. The door opened and Lauren was brought in by billy, who was jacks closest friend, and joey assumed Lauren knew him too because she seemed quite comfortable in his presence. She didn't make eye contact with anyone as she walked into the room, her eyes were kept on the floor.

"Miss branning. Is this man Derek Green, the man who attacked you on 24th July 2014?" The brief asked.

There was silence around the whole room and joey watched Lauren shake, she visibly shook. Her jaw twitched and she attempted to voice her answer several times. He watched her shut her eyes tightly as she seemed deep in thought. Joey looked up at his dad and was taken back at him smirking at Lauren. Joey flickered his glance between his dad and Lauren.

"Oh no" he mumbled, causing everyone to look up at him, including a shocked Derek. Obviously Derek hadn't realised the proof he was giving off just by showing emotions, or he hadn't realised his son was watching.

"No, that's not him"

Everyone snapped there heads up to look at Lauren. Jack was furious.

"Babe don't be scared of him, you need to tell the truth here" jack said, almost pacing the room.

Lauren didn't say anything just stood playing with her hands, looking down at the floor.

"Yes, it was him"

Everyone looked at joey this time, including Lauren.

"Joseph... Don't be silly now" Derek warned, that all too familiar look.

"You don't scare me" joey spat, standing in front of his dad. Derek chuckled and pulled his fist backwards. The two police officers were quick to restrain him.

"Miss branning..." The brief began.

"Consequences, sweetheart" Derek said.

"Yes! That's him" she snapped, wanting it to be over.

"Thank you for your patience, miss Branning" she picked up her notes and placed them in her folder. She then nodded at jack and made her way out of the room.

"I'm so sorry Lauren" joey told her, guilt written all over his face. "If I had known..." He stopped as Lauren cut him off.

"I'm going home now dad, I'll see you tonight?" She asked, ignoring joey.

Jack glanced at Lauren and then at joey. "I'll drive you, I'm clocking off now" he told her, before leading her out of the room.

Everyone else exited the room and joey was stood there in the middle of it, he felt like he could cry... Cry, scream and shout. He'd made such a mess of things and got things so wrong, it was quite unbelievable. He picked the chair up and threw it across the room in a moment of rage. He carried on his antics, punching the wall until his knuckles were cut. He slid down the wall slowly, thinking of the mess he had caused, and he wasn't referring to the trashed interview room.

**JL**

Joey looked up as his mum walked into the room. "Oh joe what have you done?"

"The cleaners will sort it"

"I don't care about that, do you know what you've done to that poor girl? You're the only person she confides in, how do you think she feels right now?"

"I know mum..."

"I think me and you need a little chat"

Joey sighed but reluctantly got up of the floor.

**Is this the end for Lauren and joey? How can they grow from this? He's doubted her. Leave me a review please. Only 2 more chapters to go, how do you think this will end?**


	22. Chapter 22

Joey followed his mum into her house, knowing that Lauren was just a couple doors down killed him because he knew he couldn't go see her yet. Kathy dropped her car keys down onto the table, bringing joey back to the present moment.

"So you want to tell me why you reacted like that?" She asked him.

Joey sat down in the chair next to his mum and took in a deep breath, releasing it again shortly.

"I didn't think dad would be capable of something so cruel"

"And what did you think joe? Did you think Lauren was capable of lying about something like this?" Kathy asked him in a harsh tone.

Joey looked at his mum in shock. "No" he frowned.

"Then why did you go off like that? She was really upset joe, the poor little soul has been through so much"

"I know mum, I didn't mean to go off like that I was just so confused about everything" he told her.

Kathy placed her hand over joeys as for the first time, she watched him cry, and her heart broke for him, for Lauren too.

"You need to make it up to her joe" Kathy told him.

Joey looked up at her. "I've got a plan mum... I just hope it works" he sighed, he stood up and put his jacket on.

"Good luck joe"

**JL**

Lauren was sat on the sofa, She sighed as the doorbell went. Making her way to the door, she sighed again, seeing joey stood there.

"Joey"

"Five minutes... Please?" He asked.

Lauren nodded and walked off into the kitchen, joey just assuming he should follow her.

He took steady breaths, figuring this was probably the only chance he was going to get. Lauren stood with her back against the counter as joey pondered around what he was going to say.

"How are you?" He asked her.

"Fantastic" sarcasm evident.

he locked eyes with her again. "I miss you... I miss us" he told her.

"You had your chance joey" she sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"I know and I blew it, everyone deserves a second chance though right? It was just a moment of doubt... Five minutes is all I needed to get my head straight" he told her.

"I can't go through that again, you didn't trust me" she sighed.

"I did trust you, I do... I was just confused" he told her in a begging tone.

"I think you should leave now" she told him, sliding past him and making her way to the front door before opening it. Jack was stood there and picked up on the tension straight away.

"Give him another chance Lauren" he said. Lauren rolled her eyes, her dad always tried to stick up for joey.

"Joey, leave" she told him again.

"Lauren, I love you" he told her, in a begging tone again.

Lauren sighed. "And I love you, but that's never going to be enough is it? So come back when that is enough" She shut the door and went upstairs, with the thought of moving on for good. In her eyes, she wasn't enough for joey and she was just trying to save herself the pain.

On the other hand joey was stood on the other side of the Branning's front door, he took the small black box out of the inside of his jacket and stared down at it. The silver diamond shined brightly as the sun hit it. Joeys hear ached knowing he'd messed up big time. He walked away and made his way back to his mums house.

Jack sighed to himself. This isn't what needed to happen, but she did tell him to come back so there was hope yet. He knew this wasn't what Lauren wanted. He picked up his phone and dialled the appropriate number.

"I think we need to interfere in our kids lives" he told her down the phone, making his way back out of the house.

"Of course I need you to help, after all you are the woman that helped my daughter from the beginning. Kathy laughed down the phone and agreed.

**THE END**

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**Bad place to leave it? Back soon with the sequel, when I say soon I mean in the near future, I have a few other things I'm still writing. I've got a new story coming very soon too... It's not quite finished yet but it's almost there. Thank you to everyone that has already left me reviews, I love reading them and thank you so much to the guest reviewers! I love reading all of them. Leave a review please.**


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